Electrochemical properties of the NiCl2 cathode with nickel foam substrate for thermal batteries

Abstract In this study, The NiCl 2 cathode with nickel foam substrate is prepared by screen printing. The NiCl 2 -based single cell with nickel foam substrate exhibits a 2.55 V discharge voltage and a specific capacity of 684.61 A s g −1 with the cut-off voltage of 1.5 V. For comparison, the NiCl 2 cell with stainless steel substrate also discharged, demonstrating a 2.43 V discharge voltage and a specific capacity of 299.39 A s g −1 . These significant improvements can be attributed to the excellent impregnation of NiCl 2 into the high-porosity nickel metal foam wherein the nickel metal foam acts as conductive agent and substrate. Due to their excellent electrochemical properties, the nickel foam substrate is suitable for use in high power NiCl 2 -based thermal batteries.