Relation between the conditions of preparation and the polarization characteristics of spongy Raney nickel electrodes used as anodes for fuel cells

Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1992 · Journal of the Electrochemical Society; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1149/1.2069378· OSTI ID:5106835

Tomida, T; Okamura, K; Ashida, T; Nakaboyashi, I ^[1]

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1. Dept. of Chemical Science and Technology, Univ. of Tokushima, Tokushima 770 (JP)

This paper reports on Spongy Raney nickel electrodes that were prepared from substrates of spongy nickel plate coated with aluminum. Influences of the temperature for alloying and the weight ratio of aluminum to nickel (Al/Ni) in the substrate on polarization characteristics were studied in connection with the alloy compositions formed, and the surface microstructure of the catalysts. For this, the ratio Al/Ni in the substrate was varied ranging from 0.1 to 2.5. Electrode performance was improved, with increases in both the temperature for alloying and the Al/Ni ratio of the substrates. However, the higher the temperature used for alloying, the lower were the effects of the Al/Ni ratio. The activated Raney nickel was prepared from an alloy whose components were NiAl{sub 3} and/or Ni{sub 2}Al{sub 3}. It was also shown that a good polarization performance resulted from the increase in activated nickel grains, which were observed by scanning electron microscopy, and in increase in the Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) surface area of the electrode-catalyst. The broad peaks observed in x-ray diffraction of Raney nickel catalysts implied crystal distortions, which should be closely related to an increase in the BET surface area.

• OSTI ID: 5106835
• Journal Information: Journal of the Electrochemical Society; (United States), Vol. 139:4; ISSN 0013-4651
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CATALYSTS
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
ELECTRODES
FABRICATION
PERFORMANCE
POLARIZATION
FUEL CELLS
MATERIALS TESTING
NICKEL
ALUMINIUM BASE ALLOYS
NICKEL ALLOYS
PLATES
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SUBSTRATES
ALLOYS
ALUMINIUM ALLOYS
COHERENT SCATTERING
DIFFRACTION
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
ELEMENTS
METALS
MICROSCOPY
SCATTERING
TESTING
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
300503* - Fuel Cells- Materials
Components
& Auxiliaries
664400 - Experimentally Derived Information on Atomic & Molecular Properties- (1992-)
360102 - Metals & Alloys- Structure & Phase Studies
300502 - Fuel Cells- Performance & Testing