Abstract
Ni/YSZ cermets are widely used as the anode materials of SOFCs. The cermets need to have about 35% porosity for high permeability of fuel gases such as hydrogen or propane. The porosity is obtained mixing carbon black as pore former with NiO and YSZ powders. Carbon black is, however, hard to defloccurate in water and makes an exothermic reaction during heat treatment. So it is likely to leave large pores and defects in the sintered cermets. We made porous Ni/YSZ cermets with homogeneous microstructure using nickel salts instead of carbon black as pore former. The nickel salts were transformed into NiO after heat treatment in air and then into Ni after heat treatment in H2/N2 mixed gas with volume shrinkage.
