Nickel foam use for production of Alkaline electrolyzers, as Cathode and Anode
Nickel Foam is a highly permeable, low-density, three-dimensional reticulatedfoam metal material, characterized by a large number of micropores filled within and a large Electrode-specific surface area. This allows it to provide more active sites in the electrolysis process, which can increase the hydrogen yield and electrolysis efficiency.
Therefore, nickel foam can be used as both a catalytic electrode (with small pores) and a gas diffusion layer (with large pores) in an alkaline hydrogen electrolyzer, as well as a catalytic electrode in an AEM hydrogen electrolyzer.
Production Process: Nickel foam is produced by plating on a backbone of special polymers with a three-dimensional network structure, such as polyurethane, polyester polyurethane, and other special polymers (sponges). After plating, the final metal foam product is made by burning off the internal polymer material and reducing the metal oxides and is shaped by a chemical-thermal processing machine.
Nickel Foam Application in Hydrogen Production Electrolyzer
The electrode is the place where the electrochemical reaction occurs on alkaline hydrogen production electrolyzer, which is the key to determining the efficiency of hydrogen production, and has the requirements of high temperature resistance, alkali resistance, and large surface area. Currently there are nickel mesh, nickel felt, nickel foam and other forms of application.
In ALK's hydrogen generation electrolyzer, the mainstream application is nickel mesh coated with Raney nickel, but some electrolyzers also use nickel foam. In the case of Nickel Foam, the anode is usually applied directly, while the cathode deposits a nickel alloy catalyst again on the foam substrate.
Nickel foam is also used as the material for the porous transport layer (PTL) in the electrolyzer in the AEM hydrogen reaction. It is known that nickel foam can also be used for catalytic electrodes in AEM electrolyzers, with the difference being that the pore size of nickel foam for catalytic electrodes is smaller, while that of nickel foam for the gaseous diffusion layer is larger.
Nickel acts as a good electrical conductor to ensure electron transfer through the holes in the reaction environment. The three-dimensional structure of nickel foam provides good support for the reaction environment and helps maintain the stability and structural strength of the electrode. At the same time, the porous structure of nickel foam provides a large active surface area, thus increasing the reaction rate.
Relevant examples are the ionomer membranes used in Steady Rock Hydrogen electrolyzer equipment, which provide excellent chemical stability while achieving high ionic conductivity and mechanical robustness. For example, when fed into the electrolyzer with pure water at the anode, the anionic membrane provides a current density of 1,020 mA/ cm2 at 1.8 V. The use of a nickel-based anode catalyst and a nickel foam porous transport layer at 200 mA/ cm2 provides an extraordinarily long durability of 20,000 hours.
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