In order to reduce the Cost, volume and weight of the bipolar plates used in the proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), more attention is being paid to metallic materials, among which 316L stainless steel (SS316L) is quite attractive. In this study, metallic Ta is deposited on SS316L using physical vapor deposition (PVD) to enhance file corrosion resistance of the bipolar plates. Simulative working environment of PEMFC is applied for testing the corrosion property Of uncoated and Ta-coated SS316L. X-ray diffraction (XRD). scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical methods (potentiodynamic and potentiostatic polarization) are also Used for analyzing characteristics of uncoated and Ta-coated SS316L. Results show chat, Ta-coated SS316L has significantly better anticorrosion property than that of uncoated SS316L. with, corrosion current densities Of uncoated SS316L being 44.61 mu A cm (2) versus 9.25 mu A cm (2) for Ta-coated SS316L a decrease of about 5 times. Moreover, corrosion current densities of Ta-coated SS316L in both simulative anode (purged with H-2) and cathode (Purged with air) conditions ate smaller than those of uncoated SS316L. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.