Innovative coating for bipolar plates in fuel cells

Graphite instead of gold: Thin layers for better hydrogen cars

Press release (Nr. 9) - Fraunhofer IWS Dresden /

Electric cars which can be filled up within five minutes, reach ranges like a diesel and yet drive "cleanly": This is already being achieved by hydrogen fuel cell vehicles today. However, so far they are still rare and expensive. Apart from efficiency problems, this is due, among other things, to one core component: Gold-coated bipolar plates (BiP) in fuel cells are expensive and complex to manufacture. The Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS Dresden, the German automotive group Daimler and the Finnish steel company Outokumpu Nirosta have now developed an economical alternative for rapid mass production.