Abstract
The purpose of this report is to directly observe the passive layer and concentration behavior of nitrogen interstitially incorporated in Ni-saving high nitrogen stainless steel (HNS) using an aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy (STEM-EDS) or – electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). The thickness of the passive layer barely changed after 1000h single cell operation, compared with the as-polished state. The observed passive layer was thin (3nm) and mainly composed of chromium oxide, as confirmed by STEM-EDS. It was confirmed that nitrogen was not present in the passive layer, but was concentrated at the interface between the passive layer and the metal bulk. The concentrated area ranged approximately 2nm to steel bulk from the interface. With help of the STEM-EDS and EELS, we were able to understand the nature of the passive layer for Ni-saving HNS, which caused remarkable improvement of the cell performance due to superior corrosion resistance.
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