Micro-perforation of the porous transport layer for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer cells using ultrashort laser pulses

The porous transport layers (PTL) are an essential compound of proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMEC), widely seen as the most promising solution to produce large amounts of hydrogen needed to replace fossil fuels in the near future. To increase the efficiency of the PEMEC, thin titanium sheets with high porosity should be used as the PTL. This study examined the structuring of thin titanium sheets using ultrashort-pulsed laser radiation with an infrared wavelength. Systematic experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of the pulse repetition rate (PRR) on the structure quality. The resulting holes drilled were analyzed using a laser scanning microscope. Preliminary results showed that laser pulses with a duration of 500 femtoseconds allow the production of thin titanium sheets with a porosity of 63 %, which can pave the way toward PEMEC with significantly increased efficiency.