A Novel Direct Carbon Solid Oxide Fuel Cell

Abstract

A direct carbon solid oxide fuel cell (DC-SOFC) was assembled and tested. The cell was a tubular SOFC-like structure, using YSZ as electrolyte, silver paste as anode and cathode, and graphite as fuel. At the testing temperature 800{degree sign}C, the open circuit voltage of the cell was 0.85V and the maximum power reached 47mW with the active cell area of 5.08 cm2. In the lifetime measurement, the cell current was maintained at 71mA. After running 3h, the cell voltage dropped from 0.62V to 0.22V and the discharge value calculated was 771C.

An all-solid-state carbon-air battery reaching an output power over 10 W and a specific energy of 3600 Wh kg−1

“…However, in practical, it is difficult to achieve the electrochemical oxidation of carbon because of the high activation energy (~190 kJ mol -1 ) [1,2]. High temperature is needed to accelerate the sluggish kinetics and therefore the electrochemical process is generally performed with molten salt [3][4][5][6][7][8], solid oxide [9][10][11][12], or hybrid [13][14][15][16] electrolytes. The technologies developed from these explorations are generally called direct carbon fuel cells (DCFCs) [17][18][19][20].…”

“…In recent years, the carbon-air battery with solid oxide electrolyte, also known as direct carbon solid oxide fuel cell (DC-SOFC) [9,11,[21][22][23], has been attracting increasing attention because of its all-solid-state configuration and high performance.…”

A feasible way to handle the heat management of direct carbon solid oxide fuel cells

“…CO) before the electrochemical reaction, which keeps the high volumetric energy density of solid carbon and expands the electrochemical reaction area simultaneously. A number of studies have been conducted to further improve the performance of DC-SOFC by adopting catalysts for faster carbon gasification kinetics [10][11][12][13]. Moreover, it has been found that DC-SOFCs can cogenerate fuel and electricity power, which further increases their economic advantage [14][15][16][17][18].…”

Electrochemical Oxidation of Carbon at High Temperature: Principles and Applications

“…The low performance can be attributed to the thick electrolyte (1.5 mm) and unoptimized electrode (porous platinum). With the improvement of materials and fabrication techniques, an output power of 45 mW was obtained at 800 °C from a tubular SOFC with an electrolyte thickness of 0.3 mm and an effective area of 5.1 cm 2 operated on graphite powder in 2009 . Then, a tubular Ni-based anode-supported ScSZ electrolyte SOFC, with an effective area of 10 cm 2 , was operated on carbon black, and an overall output power of 1040 mW was obtained at 850 °C in 2010 .…”

“…With the improvement of materials and fabrication techniques, an output power of 45 mW was obtained at 800 °C from a tubular SOFC with an electrolyte thickness of 0.3 mm and an effective area of 5.1 cm 2 operated on graphite powder in 2009. 31 Then, a tubular Ni-based anode-supported ScSZ electrolyte SOFC, with an effective area of 10 cm 2 , was operated on carbon black, and an overall output power of 1040 mW was obtained at 850 °C in 2010. 32 In the same year, a tubular DC-SOFC was successfully operated at a constant current of 30 mA for 37 h. 33 Meanwhile, catalysts promoting the electrochemical oxidation of CO and the reverse Boudouard reaction were applied on the anode (Ag-GDC) and the carbon fuel (Fe), respectively, of a DC-SOFC, and the output performance was enhanced by 7 times.…”