Eniricerche S.p.a.

Snam S.p.a.

Enricerche S.p.a.

Giampietro Piro

Maria Federica Gagliardi

Thomas Paul Lockhart

Laura Zanibelli

Federica Gagliardi

Alessandro Selvaggi

Nickel cermet anodic material for fuel cell anode

A nickel cermet containing a metal nickel phase and an yttria stabilized zirconia phase, is prepared by a process comprising: preparing a suspension of the zirconia in demineralized water; preparing a solution of a nickel salt in demineralized water; mixing the nickel solution and the zirconia dispersion; eliminating the water from the mixture to obtain a solid containing particles of the zirconia covered with the nickel salt; calcining the solid under oxidizing conditions to form particles of the zirconia covered with nickel oxide; and reducing the nickel oxide with hydrogen to nickel metal.

Process of preparing nickel cermet

A nickel cermet contains 35-70% by weight of a metal nickel phase and 65-30% by weight of a zirconia phase stabilized in the cubic form with yttria, with, on X-ray diffraction analysis, said phases appearing as distinct and homogeneously distributed at a level lower than 1 .mu.m. This nickel cermet is obtained by preparing an aqueous solution containing a heat-decomposable zirconyl, yttrium and nickel salt, and an organic hydroxyacid or aminoacid, or a poly(acrylic acid); removing water from the resulting solution, under conditions of absence, or substantial absence, of decomposition phenomena, in order to separate a porous solid; calcining the porous solid, and reducing with hydrogen the product from calcination. The nickel cermet obtained in this way is useful as an anodic material for a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC).

Nickel cermet, and process for preparing it

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Milan, Italy

Giampietro Piro