An electrochemical investigation of sintered thick metal hydride electrodes for oxygen-metal hydride semi-fuel cell applications

Based on a conventional pasting method, a sintering process was applied to fabricate thick metal hydride electrodes for oxygen-metal hydride semi-fuel cell. It was found that, after sintering, the activation and the high-rate dischargeability of the electrodes are greatly improved. The sintering parameters were optimized by measuring the electrochemical properties of the metal hydride electrode sintered in the temperature range 650-900degreesC for 10-60 min under mixed argon and hydrogen gases. It was found that to make a thick metal hydride electrode, the use of perforated copper foil as a current collector is better than using perforated nickel strip and copper mesh. A new type of structure is designed for the thick metal hydride electrode, that is, by folding the perforated foil that had been prepasted with active materials into a sandwich structure. This fold-type sandwich electrode was further clamped and held together by copper mesh.