A carbothermal reduction method for the preparation of nickel foam from nickel oxide and sucrose

• A novel method for preparation of nickel foam from NiO and sucrose is reported.
• Sucrose acts as a dispersion medium and source of carbon for carbothermal reduction.
• The nickel foam produced has purity as high as 99.5 wt%.
• The nickel foam has interconnected cellular structure with a porosity of ~93.8%.
• The nickel foam shows an electrical conductivity of 3.97×105 S/m.

A new method involving thermo-foaming of NiO powder dispersions in molten sucrose at 140 °C followed by carbonization and carbothermal reduction at 1050 oC has been used for the preparation of nickel foam. The molten sucrose acts as a medium for the dispersion of NiO powder for thermo-foaming as well as the source of carbon for the carbothermal reduction. The nickel foam produced from a composition consisting of 100 g sucrose and 150.5107 g NiO had purity as high as 99.5 wt%. The nickel foam had interconnected cellular structure with a porosity of nearly 93.8% and showed an electrical conductivity of 3.97×105 S/m suitable for electrode applications.