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

•We provide an alternative to the stainless steel substrate for NiCl2 thermal battery.•The impregnation of NiCl2 into the nickel foam was prepared by screen printing.•The peak voltage of NiCl2 cell with nickel foam substrate can reach 2.55V.•The NiCl2-based battery with nickel foam substrate has a higher specific capacity. In this study, The NiCl2 cathode with nickel foam substrate is prepared by screen printing. The NiCl2-based single cell with nickel foam substrate exhibits a 2.55V discharge voltage and a specific capacity of 684.61Asg−1 with the cut-off voltage of 1.5V. For comparison, the NiCl2 cell with stainless steel substrate also discharged, demonstrating a 2.43V discharge voltage and a specific capacity of 299.39Asg−1. These significant improvements can be attributed to the excellent impregnation of NiCl2 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 NiCl2-based thermal batteries.