Metal‐coated Polyether Ether Ketone Monopolar Plates for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell

For the polymer electrolyte fuel cell application, novel multilayer metal‐coated polyether ether ketone (PEEK) monopolar plates were developed via electroless plating and electroplating process. The coating layers consisted of 7 µm thick Ni–P layer on a PEEK surface, 7 µm thick Cu layer on it, and 500 nm thick Au layer on the top surface. With metal‐coated PEEK monopolar plates on both anode and cathode side, the current density of a single cell at 0.6 V was found to be 734 mA/cm2, which is about 85% using the conventional plates (869 mA/cm2).