Thermal batteries, reserve power source, is activated by melting of molten salt at the temperature range of 350~550℃. To immobile the molten state electrolyte when the thermal battery is activated, the binder must be added in electrolyte. Usually, molten salts include 30~40 wt% of MgO binder to ensure electrical insulation as well as safety. However, the conventional MgO binder tends to increase ionic conductive resistance and thus the inclusion of the binder increases the total impedance of the battery. This paper mainly focused on the study of yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) as an alternative binder for molten salt. The chemical stability between the molten salt and YSZ is measured by XRD and DSC. And the sufficient path for ionic conduction on molten salt could be confirmed by the enhanced wetting behavior and the enlarged pore size of YSZ. The electrochemical properties were analyzed using single cell tests so that it showed the outstanding performance than that using MgO binder.
