Porously coated open-structure substrate and method of manufacture thereof
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorAlfred I-Tsung Pan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for sintering a porous coating on an open-structure substrate, i.e., a substrate with pre-made pores or openings. The open-structure substrate is spread with a coating paste that is prepared with such a viscosity so that the paste will not drip through the pores/openings on the open-structure substrate. The coating paste is then sintered to form a porous layer on the surface of the open-structure substrate. Optionally, the porous coating may be further coated with a catalyst for fuel cell applications.
Claims2
A method for sintering a porous coating on an open-structure substrate comprising the steps of:
- selecting an open-structure substrate with openings of desired sizes, said open-structure substrate having a first side and a second side;
- admixing a coating material with a binder to form a paste having a viscosity high enough to prevent said paste from dripping through the openings on the open-structure substrate, wherein the coating material is non-conductive;
- applying the paste to the first side of said open-structure substrate to form a paste layer of a desired thickness;
- heating the paste layer at a sintering temperature for a period of time to form a porous coating on the open-structure substrate;
- pre-coating the non-conductive coating material with a conductive material by electroless plating or atomic layer deposition;
- and
- depositing a catalyst on the pre-coated non-conductive coating material by electroplating, electroless plating, or atomic layer deposition.
A method for sintering a porous coating on an open-structure substrate comprising the steps of:
- selecting an open-structure substrate with openings of desired sizes, said open-structure substrate having a first side and a second side;
- admixing a coating material with a binder to form a paste having a viscosity high enough to prevent said paste from dripping through the openings on the open-structure substrate, wherein the coating material comprises a core particle coated with a cover layer, wherein the core particle and the cover layer each has a melting temperature, and wherein the melting temperature of the cover layer is lower than the melting temperature of the core particle;
- applying the paste to the first side of said open-structure substrate to form a paste layer of a desired thickness;
- and
- heating the paste layer at a sintering temperature for a period of time to form a porous coating on the open-structure substrate, wherein the sintering temperature is higher than the melting temperature of the cover layer but lower than the melting temperature of the core particle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.