Nano-Cr2N dominated films with high conductivity and strong corrosion resistance for Ti bipolar plates

•CrN films prepared by HiPIMS exhibit good interface conductivity. The lowest interface contact resistance can reach 6.14 mΩ·cm2 at 1.4 MPa.•The high energy density during magnetron sputtering is beneficial to inhibition the growth of columnar structure and formation Cr2N films with high metallicity and stability.•The corrosion current density of all CrN films prepared by HiPIMS is less than 1 µA·cm−2, and the lowest value can reach 0.086 µA·cm−2.•The space network structure of amorphous wrapped Cr2N nanoclusters inhibited corrosion solution invading into Ti substrates, which greatly improves the corrosion resistance of CrN films.