A sequential dual-passivation strategy for designing stainless steel used above water oxidation

Professor Mingxin Huang of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and his team worked on the research for the topic “A sequential dual-passivation strategy for designing stainless steel used above water oxidation”. The research findings were recently published in Materials Today on August 19, 2023.

Details of the publication:

A sequential dual-passivation strategy for designing stainless steel used above water oxidation

Kaiping Yu, Shihui Feng, Chao Ding, Meng Gu, Peng Yu, Mingxin Huang, article in Materials Today,

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1369702123002390

Abstract:

Stainless steel is critical material used in a wide variety of industries. Unfortunately, current development of stainless steel has reached a stagnant stage due to the fundamental limitation of the conventional Cr-based single-passivation mechanism. Here, we show that, by using a sequential dual-passivation mechanism, substantially enhanced anti-corrosion properties can be achieved in Mn-contained stainless steel, with a high breakdown potential of ∼1700 mV (saturated calomel electrode, SCE) in a 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. Specifically, the conventional Cr-based and counter-intuitive Mn-based passivation is sequentially activated during potentiodynamic polarization. The Cr-based passive layer prevents corrosion at low potentials below ∼720 mV(SCE), while the Mn-based passive layer resists corrosion at high potentials up to ∼1700 mV(SCE). The present “sequential dual-passivation” strategy enlarges the passive region of stainless steel to high potentials above water oxidation, enabling them as potential anodic materials for green hydrogen production via water electrolysis.