Spatially and temporally resolved stainless steel bipolar plate degradation model for PEMFCs

Kravos, Andraž (author), Gričar, Miha (author), Drab, Mitja (author), Prijatelj, Matej (author), Katrašnik, Tomaž (author)

Predicting multilayer oxide growth on stainless-steel bipolar plates (BPPs) in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) remains challenging because of the complex interplay between electrochemical and transport processes. To address this challenge, we present a BPP degradation model that accounts for the competitive growth of chromium and iron oxide layers and couple it with a real-time-capable, multi-scale, physics-based PEMFC performance model. The results demonstrate that the proposed framework reproduces experimentally observed oxide-thickness evolution and final composition from ToF-SIMS depth profiling with monolayer-level agreement within the uncertainty of the reconstructed literature dataset, while capturing oxygen-vacancy generation, diffusion, and annihilation across the multilayer passive film. Furthermore, the coupled framework enables real-time prediction of spatially non-uniform oxide growth under realistic PEMFC operating conditions, revealing a strong dependence of corrosion dynamics on local cell conditions. The developed framework therefore supports mechanistic interpretation of BPP degradation and provides a basis for future model-based monitoring of stainless-steel BPP degradation in PEMFC systems.

• Language: English
• Keywords: proton exchange membrane fuel cell, modeling, multilayer oxide growth, stainless steel bipolar plates, spatial non-uniformity, degradation
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 17 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 256, art. 156386
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-184805
• UDC: 542.943:621.352.6
• ISSN on article: 0360-3199
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2026.156386
• COBISS.SI-ID: 284864515
• Publication date in RUL: 15.07.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: International journal of hydrogen energy
• Shortened title: Int. j. hydrogen energy
• Publisher: Elsevier, Pergamon
• ISSN: 0360-3199
• COBISS.SI-ID: 3338511

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: gorivne celice, protonske izmenjevalne membrane, modeliranje, rast večplastnih oksidov, bipolarne plošče iz nerjavečega jekla, prostorska neenakomernost, degradacija