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Controlled‐Pore‐Size Composite Nickel Oxide Structures for Carbonate Fuel Cell Cathodes
Author(s) -
Baumgartner Charles E.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1151-2916.1990.tb06547.x
Subject(s) - electrolyte , non blocking i/o , molten carbonate fuel cell , cathode , composite number , chemical engineering , nickel , materials science , oxide , nickel oxide , carbonate , electrode , solid oxide fuel cell , chemistry , composite material , metallurgy , organic chemistry , catalysis , engineering
The performance of a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) is significantly eroded when fuel and oxidant gases are allowed to combine chemically as occurs with a loss of gas impermeability by the cell's electrolyte structure. This performance decline is eradicated when the cell's electrodes possess pore size distributions small enough to absorb sufficient electrolyte to act as a secondary gas barrier. Described here is a process for preparing composite MCFC NiO cathodes where the median pore size of the gas barrier region is varied from 3.2 to 0.4 μm by adjusting the starting powder's Ni/NiO ratio. When filled with liquid Li 2 CO 3 ‐38 mol% K 2 CO 3 at 923 K, these structures possess a gas pressure resistance of between 2.3 × 10 5 and 13.6 × 10 5 Pa, respectively. The incorporation of these composite cathodes in a MCFC can prevent the penetration of the oxidant gas into the fuel cell's interior.