Article Abstract

Pt coatings were successfully deposited on the surface of TA4 Ti-alloy using the DC pulse magnetron sputtering technique. With the increasing deposition time, the lattice constants of Pt coating increased from 0.39112 nm at 5 min to 0.39128 nm at 15 min, correspondingly the thickness increased from approximately 0.29 μm to around 0.95 μm. Electrochemical studies revealed that the open circuit voltage (OCP) of Pt-coated TC4 was approximately 0.77 V higher than that of the plain TA4. With the extension of deposition time, the interfacial electrochemical reaction resistance further increases, as a result, its charge transfer resistance will gradually increase with deposition time as described as below: 5.52 × 10 4 , 5.91 × 10 4 , and 6.1 × 10 4 Ω·cm 2 , respectively. Importantly, the Pt coating effectively enhanced and maintained the excellent interface conductivity, as the interface contact resistance (ICR) only exhibited a slight increase after a simulated steady-state polarization testing. In sum, the Pt coating can significantly enhance the interfacial conductivity of TA4 in the anode side environment of proton exchange membrane hydrogen electrolyzer (PEMWE).

How Moorfield products helped:

Magnetron sputtering of Pt onto TA4 Titanium Foil

The TA4 titanium foil was cut into 60 mm × 40 mm pieces, and the Pt layer was deposited using magnetron sputtering with our MiniLab 060 physical vapor deposition system. The pre-treatment was a 300 W plasma cleaning with a radio frequency power supply in an Ar atmosphere at a pressure of 5 Pa for 15 min. The target material was a high-purity Pt (99.999%) target with a diameter of 3 inches, and the sputtering power supply was a 100 W DC pulse power supply. The deposition time was 5, 10, and 15 min, respectively.

Article details: