Comparative study on the performance of different carbon fuels in a molten carbonate direct carbon fuel cell with a novel anode structure

Abstract Molten carbonate direct carbon fuel cells (MC-DCFCs) are one of the most promising technologies for clean and efficient energy conversion from solid carbon. However, the low power density of carbon fuel cells has been one of the challenging bottlenecks limiting their application. In this study, a novel anode structure is designed and fabricated for an MC-DCFC to improve the mixing uniformity between the carbon powder and electrolyte and enhance the interfacial contact between the carbon powder and the anode. Five typical carbon fuels are used to investigate the electrochemical performance of the cells with two different anodes at different temperatures. The comparison of the power density before and after improvements to the anode shows that the power density with each carbon fuel in the MC-DCFC has been notably increased. A maximum power density of 144.9 mW cm−2 is achieved by a bamboo-based carbon with the novel anode structure. In addition, two hybrid carbon fuels are tested, and their power densities are 163.6 mW cm−2 for fuel A and 170.5 mW cm−2 for fuel B, which indicates that adding conductive carbon black to the carbon fuels can effectively promote their performance.