Preparation Technology of Large-sized and Ultra-thin Powder Rolled Porous Titanium Plates for Hydrogen Production from Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolysis Water

Anodic Ti-based gas diffusion layer (GDL) is the core component of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis cell. Realizing preparation of large-size ultra-thin porous Ti-based GDL can significantly improve efficiency of hydrogen production from PEM electrolysis water and reduce cost, which has important practical application value. In this work, the porous Ti plates with a size of 400×400 mm, a thickness of 230~330 µm, a porosity of 23~43%, an average pore size of 8~13 µm and a gas permeability of 5~15×10-4 L/min·Pa·cm2 were successfully fabricated through very few processing steps (powder rolling and vacuum sintering). It was proved that the pore structure, thickness and its uniformity of porous Ti plates can be regulated by powder characteristics (e.g. particle size) and rolling parameters (e.g. speed and roll gap) based on changing bite angle. This work provides some useful information and new possibilities for the development of Ti-based GDL.