Porous metal tubular support for solid oxide fuel cell design

A porous nickel tubular support of 1 mm diam was successfully created by heat-treating a commercial nickel tube. The resulting tube contained uniform pores, whose diameters ranged from 0.5 to 2.5 mu m, depending on treatment temperature. The porous metal obtained is a promising candidate for support materials for microfuel cells or gas separation membranes because it has the necessary gas permeability and mechanical strength. It was also confirmed that a solid oxide fuel cell design employing the porous nickel tube as a supporting anode could be operated. (c) 2006 The Electrochemical Society.