Abstract
The electrochemical gasification of coal to CO in a direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC) has thermodynamical advantages, including the conversion of heat into power at a reversible efficiency of 100%. Molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) technology may form the basis for constructing DCFC's. Here the electrochemical oxidation of carbon in a 62/38 mol % Li/K carbonate melt is studied using impedance spectroscopy (IS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). A set of equilibria is introduced which fully describes the electrochemical equilibrium of the system. From IS it is shown that for temperatures lower than 700 °C, charge transfer is the slowest step, while at higher temperatures a second unidentified step also contributes significantly to the d.c. resistance of the electrode. The d.c. resistance is 100 to 220 Ω cm2 at 650 °C and 12 to 60 Ω cm2 at 750 °C, depending on the carbon surface roughness.
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Peelen, W., Olivry, M., Au, S. et al. Electrochemical oxidation of carbon in a 62/38 mol % Li/K carbonate melt. Journal of Applied Electrochemistry 30, 1389–1395 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026586915244
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026586915244