Development of high energy surfaces on stainless steels for improved wettability

A bi-polar plate with improved surface wettability for a fuel cell stack, comprising:

• a body comprising at least ninety percent by weight of a metal selected from the group comprising iron base alloys, stainless steels, nickel base alloys and combinations thereof, the body defining at least one flow channel;
• and
• at least about 0.05 percent by weight of silicon up to 10 percent by weight of silicon to provide a high energy surface on the at least one flow channel.

A bi-polar plate with improved surface wettability for a fuel cell stack, comprising:

• a body comprising at least approximately seventy percent of a metal and defining at least one flow channel;
• at least about 1.5 percent by weight of silicon up to 6 percent by weight of silicon, wherein the percent by weight of silicon is selected to produce a wettability contact angle of less than 20 degrees on the high energy surface of the at least one flow channel.

A bi-polar plate with improved surface wettability for a fuel cell stack, comprising:

• a body comprising at least approximately ninety percent by weight of a metal, and defining at least one flow channel;
• and
• at least 0.01 percent by weight of titanium up to 3 percent by weight of titanium to provide a high energy surface on the at least one flow channel.