Sol-casting of molten carbonate fuel cell matrices

A molten carbonate fuel cell matrix comprising:

• a lithium aluminate structure produced by mixing at least one aluminate precursor material and at least one lithium salt in one of an aqueous solvent and an organic solvent, resulting in formation of a suspension, heating said suspension to a temperature less than a boiling point of said one of said aqueous solvent and said organic solvent, resulting in formation of a slurry comprising at least one lithium aluminate precursor material, adding at least one casting additive to said slurry, forming said slurry into a flat sheet by a process selected from the group consisting of tape casting, slip casting, curtain coating, extrusion and roll compaction and applying said flat sheet to a substrate material, one of drying and curing said flat sheet thereby yielding a green molten carbonate fuel cell structure, heat treating said flat sheet in one of air and a reducing environment so as to tailor at least one of a phase and a characteristic of a resulting powder comprising said flat sheet, assembling said flat sheet into a molten carbonate fuel cell, and heating said green molten carbonate fuel cell structure after assembly into aid molten carbonate fuel cell to a molten carbonate fuel cell operating temperature, resulting in transformation of said at least one lithium aluminate precursor material to lithium aluminate.