Cycling Characteristics of Tubular Liquid Antimony Anode Direct Carbon Fuel Cells Prepared by Atmospheric Plasma Spray

Abstract

Liquid antimony anode direct carbon fuel cell (LAA-DCFC) is a promising technology for efficient conversion of solid carbon fuels. However, the operating process and the regeneration method of the fuel cells with LAAs are different from those with solid anodes and still need to be researched. In the present research, the tubular LAA-DCFC units were fabricated based on stainless steel support by atmospheric plasma spray (APS) technology. The LAA-DCFCs were cycled by furnace control method and “hot plug” method to simulate the normal start-stop and the anode regeneration processes, respectively. No degradation was observed after five temperature cycles of furnace control test, which showed that the phase change process of the LAA has no influence on the sprayed electrolyte and cathode. During the “hot plug” test, the tubular cell was measured in Ar atmosphere and was removed from and put back into the LAA at a speed of 20 mm min-1 and 50℃ min-1. The cell performance recovered once the cell was put back and a degradation of 0.1% cycle-1 was observed. Considering the low frequency of anode regeneration, the degradation rate is relatively acceptable. The environmental air leakage and the floating ash retarded the recovery rate, but have no influence on the degradation degree. The cycling characteristics in the present research proved the long-term operating feasibility of DCFC with LAA.