Pack aluminization of nickel anode for molten carbonate fuel cells

The aluminium pack cementation (pack aluminization) process on a porous nickel anode for molten carbonate fuel cells has been studied to improve anode creep resistance. The porous nickel substrates used in this study were fabricated by doctor blade equipment followed by sintering (850 °C). Packs surrounding the Ni anode were made by mixing Al₂O₃ powder, Al powder, and NaCl as activator. The pack aluminization was performed at 700 to 850 °C for 0.5-5.0 h. After pack aluminization, the principal NiAl intermetallic compounds detected were Ni₃Al at 700 °C, NiAl at 750 °C and Ni₃Al₂ at 800 °C. The aluminum content in the aluminized Ni anode was proportional to the square root of pack aluminizing time. With increasing the Al content in the anode, the creep of the anode decreased. It was nearly constant (2.0%) when the Al content was above 5.0%. Although the exchange current density (24 mA/cm²) for the aluminized (2.5 wt.%) Ni anode was somewhat lower than that of the pure Ni anode (40 mA/cm²), the performance of a single cell using an aluminized Ni anode was similar to that of the one with pure Ni anode.