Double-skeleton electrodes

It is important that the electrolyte-containing pores and the gas-containing pores are intercormected for the production of a three-phase reaction zone. 

In hydrogen fuel cells, DSKs are used in their optimized form and are called Janus electrodes [35]. These electrodes consist of three layers. The middle layer is the working layer that contains the catalyst and the coarse, gas-fiUed pores. The outer layers are covering layers that contain fine electrolyte-fiUed pores that prevent the gas from escaping from the electrode. This construction is easier to handle because pressure variations do not strongly influence the stability of the three-phase reaction zone. 

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A considerable contribution to the development of alkaline fuel cells was made toward the end of the 1950s by the German physicists Eduard Justi and his coworkers. They made electrodes with nonplatinum catalysts, the so-called Raney-type skeleton metals nickel for the hydrogen side and silver for the oxygen side (Justi et al. 1954). The catalysts were included into a matrix of carbonyl nickel. These electrodes were named Doppel-Skelett (DSK) = double skeleton electrodes (Justi and Winsel, 1962). 

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