Ni-Al alloy anode for molten carbonate fuel cell made by in-situ sintering the Ni-Al alloy and method for making the same

Abstract

Disclosed is a Ni—Al alloy anode for molten carbonate fuel cell made by in-situ sintering the Ni—Al alloy. Further, disclosed is a method for preparing the same comprising steps of preparing a sheet with Ni—Al alloy powders (S1); and installing the sheet in a fuel cell without any heat treatment for sintering the Ni—Al alloy in the sheet and then in-situ sintering the Ni—Al alloy in the sheet during a pretreatment process of the cell with the sheet (S2), wherein a reaction activity of the Ni—Al alloy anode can be maintained, the method is simple and economic, and a mass production of the Ni—Al alloy anode and a scale-up in the method are easy.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a Ni—Al alloy anode for molten carbonate fuel cell made by in-situ sintering the Ni—Al alloy and a method for making the Ni—Al alloy anode. [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art [0004] A fuel cell is used for directly converting chemical energy into electric energy. There are various kinds of the fuel cell, such as a molten carbonate fuel cell, a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell, and a solid oxide fuel cell etc. The molten carbonate fuel cell is a fuel cell using the molten carbonate as its electrolyte and comprises a cathode, an electrolyte, a support and an anode etc. [0005] A high temperature fuel cell operating at 500° C. or more, such as the molten carbonate fuel cell and the solid oxide fuel cell, mainly uses nickel for an electrode. For example, the molten carbonate fuel cell uses nickel for an anode and nickel oxide (NiO) for a cathode. [0006] The anode in which an oxid...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014] Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art. The object of the present invention is to provide a Ni—Al alloy anode for molten carbonate fuel cell made by in-situ sintering the Ni—Al alloy and a method for making the same, wherein a reaction activity of the Ni—Al alloy anode can be maintained, the method is simple and economic, and a mass production of the Ni—Al alloy anode and a scale-up in the method are easy.

Problems solved by technology

The anode in which an oxidation reaction of fuel occurs has serious problems of sintering and creep phenomena at an operating condition of high temperature and high load of 2 kg / cm2 or more.

That is, the reduction of porosity and the change of micro-structure such as a shrinkage etc. occur in the anode due to the sintering and the creep phenomena, thereby causing a degradation of the performance of the fuel cell.

In addition, when a fuel cell having stacks of several unit cells using the porous nickel electrode is operated for a long time, there occurs a creep in the porous nickel electrode due to the load of the fuel cell, thereby reducing the performance of the fuel cell.

However, the LiCrO2 formed on the surface of the nickel electrode is dissolved in the electrolyte, thereby deteriorating the resistance of the nickel electrode to the sintering and the creep when the fuel cell is operated for a long time.

However, the prior Ni—Al alloy electrode is expensive compared to the electrode using the existing material and has such a problem that the Ni—Al alloy electrode is not sintered in a general manufacturing process of the electrode.

Due to the alumina oxide, the sintering between the nickel particles becomes difficult.

The micro-pores eventually cause a re-distribution of the electrolyte, thereby exerting very bad influence on the life of the fuel cell.

As mentioned above, since the partial pressure of oxygen should be controlled, there have been such problems in the partial oxidation-reduction method that it is very difficult to introduce a continuous process required for a mass production and that necessary equipments become very complicated.

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