Optimization of a direct carbon fuel cell for operation below 700 °C

Direct carbon fuel cells (DCFCs) are the most efficient technology to convert solid carbon energy to electricity and thus could have a major impact on reducing fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions. The development of DCFCs to commercialisation stage is largely prohibited by their poor power densities due to the high resistive loss from anode. Here, we report a high-performance Sm_0.2Ce_0.8O_1.9 electrolyte-supported hybrid DCFC with Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Co_0.8Fe_0.2O_3−δ cathode and optimised anode configuration. The catalytic oxidation of carbon is improved, which results in an area specific resistance of only 0.41 Ω cm² at 650 °C at the anode. The hybrid DCFC achieves a peak power density of 113.1 mW cm⁻² at 650 °C operating on activated carbon. The stability of the fuel cell has also been improved due to the optimised current collection.