On-demand supply of slurry fuels to a porous anode of a direct carbon fuel cell: Attempts to increase fuel-anode contact and realize long-term operation

In this paper, we propose a novel idea that might allow resolution of the two biggest challenges that hinder practical use of direct carbon fuel cells (DCFC). This work involved 1) the use of three types of porous Ni anode with different pore sizes, 2) size matching between the anode pores and solid fuel particles in a molten-carbonate (MC) slurry, and 3) provision of a continuous supply of fuel-MC slurry through the porous Ni anode. As a result, larger numbers of smaller pores in the anode were preferred for extending the triple phase boundary (TPB), as long as the fuel particles were sufficiently small to have full access to the inner pore spaces of the anode. For example, the maximal power density achieved in the case of optimal size matching, reached 645 mW cm−2, which is 14-times greater than that for the case of poorest size-matching and 64-times larger than that for a non-porous anode, and lasted for more than 20 h. After 20 h of steady operation at a fixed current density (700 mA cm−2), the electric potential slightly decreased due to partial consumption of the fuel. The cell performance readily recovered after restarting the supply of MC-fuel slurry.