La—Ni system porous anode in an alkaline fuel cell

Abstract

AbstractLa—Ni system alloys in fine powder form were used to make the hydrogen electrode for an alkaline fuel cell. LaNi5 electrodes were found to have the highest electrode performance among the La—Ni system electrodes. Using LaNi5 powder of mean particle size 3.4 μm for the electrode, the limiting current density was 180 mA/cm2. However mixing the same size powder (mean particle size 3.4 μm) with powder of mean particle size 40.5 μm in a ratio of 4:1, the limiting current density of the new electrode was 250 mA/cm2. The electrode was found to have both relatively fine pores in the range 0.01–0.2 μm and relatively large pores in the ranges 0.5–1 μm and 4–5 μm. Thus, it was found that not only relatively fine pores but relatively large pores had an important effect upon the LaNi5 electrode characteristics.