Rheological properties of substrates significantly affect energy consumption and hydrogen production potential in the process of hydrogen production with stirring. Hence, the rheological properties of corn stover hydrolysate with diverse concentrations and its hydrogen producing capacities under intermittent stirring conditions were investigated in this paper. The results showed that corn stover hydrolysate exhibited pseudo-plastic flow behavior at total solid (TS) of 2.76%-7.65%, and was well fitted by the Power law model. Among four intermittent stirring modes, intermittent stirring C2 (static time: stirring time is 2:1) obtained the highest hydrogen yield of 57.63 +/- 1.75 mL g(-1) VS, which was 18.97% higher compared with static-culture. Moreover, the maximum hydrogen production rate of intermittent stirring C2 increased by 65.05% compared to continuous stirring. It's a feasible way to improve hydrogen production performance with proper intermittent stirring. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.