THE DEPOSTION OF SINTERED NICKEL PLAQUE WITIllN A NICKEL FOAM SUBSTRATE

Abstract

<p>With the world of technology constantly advancing, there will always be a need to improve the source of energy providing the power in a number of applications.<br />Supercapacitors, specifically, have become important power components for cell phones, laptops, and, more recently, electric and hybrid vehicles. In order to increase the efficiency ofsupercapacitors, novel structures must be investigated to increase surface area, which is one key to the energy storage mechanism of supercapacitors. By<br />infiltrating the open cells of high porosity nickel foam with sintered filamentary nickel<br />plaque, a unique, high surface area structure with high porosity has been produced. The mechanical properties of the resulting structure are a compromise of the two constituents; nickel foam and nickel plaque. The nickel foam provides ductility, and the nickel plaque provides strength and stiffuess, with a final composite structure that averages a yield strength of 1.87 MPa, a UTS of 2.25 MPa, an elastic Modulus of 515 MPa, and an average percent elongation of 7.6%. As the relative density of the composite increases, the strength and modulus both increase, while the percent elongation decreases. This high surface area, high porosity material could serve as a viable substrate for a thin coating, which would provide the electrical properties of a supercapacitor.</p>