A 60-second microwave-assisted synthesis of nickel foam and its application to the impregnation of porous scaffolds

Abstract

A rapid and facile method to prepare nickel foam from nickel nitrate and glycine using a conventional microwave oven is presented. The foam, characterized by SEM, XRD-Rietveld, TG, magnetization measurements and BET contains mostly nickel metal (80 w%) and nickel oxide (20 w%); it exhibits pores in the sub micrometric and nanometric scale and consists of particles with an average diameter of 45-47 nm and BET surface of 15.9 gm-2. This microwave-assisted combustion synthesis is used to infiltrate porous ceramic scaffolds with nickel metal as a potential method to accelerate the fabrication of electrodes in solid oxide fuel cells and electrolysers. After repeated impregnation, the scaffolds of Ce0.9Gd0.1O2, saffil (high temperature insulating brick), La0.2Sr0.7TiO3 and BaCe0.5Zr0.3Y0.16Zn0.04O3-δ were black, exhibited electrical continuity and were easily lifted with a magnet. A comparative SEM study of the microstructure of the porous scaffolds with and without nickel is presented.