materials-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Recent Advances and Challenges in Carbon Fuel Cells

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 November 2021) | Viewed by 2680

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Advanced Energy Technologies, Faculty of Infrastructure and Environment, Czestochowa University of Technology, Dabrowskiego Str. 69, 42-201 Czestochowa, Poland
Interests: materials in energy; corrosion and degradation of materials; production of protective coatings; hydrogen technologies; nanomaterials in energy and environmental engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC) is a generator that converts the chemical energy of carbon directly to electricity through electrochemical oxidation of the fuel. The carbonaceous fuel (e.g., hard coals, biomass-derived biochars, active carbons, carbon black, graphite, coke) is an anode which oxidizes used oxygen from air. There are four basic types of DCFC based on the type of electrolyte: molten carbonates, solid oxygen ion conducting ceramics, aqueous and molten hydroxides. Further, composite electrolytes (so-called hybrid electrolytes) are widely used in DCFC prototypes. The purpose of this Special Issue is to present the idea of using new power generators, including direct carbon fuel cells. The work will cover all aspects that affect the efficiency, lifetime, and economy of electricity production using carbon-based fuels: types of DCFC dedicated fuels and methods of their preparation, sources (carbon black, graphite, biomass), design solutions of DCFC models and characteristics, types of electrolytes and methods of their cleaning, fuel oxidation mechanisms in DCFC, and corrosion and degradation processes of metal elements used to build the DCFC.

I invite you to exchange scientific experience and gather current data on DCFC also in aspects not mentioned above.

As scientists, we owe our planet the search for and development of new energy solutions for future generations.

Dr. Renata Włodarczyk
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • direct carbon fuel cell
  • efficiency
  • carbon-based fuel
  • electrolytes
  • corrosion processes
  • biomass-derived biochar
  • design model of DCFC

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

21 pages, 9756 KiB  
Article
Materials Selection and Construction Development for Ensuring the Availability and Durability of the Molten Hydroxide Electrolyte Direct Carbon Fuel Cell (MH-MCFC)
by Andrzej Kacprzak and Renata Włodarczyk
Materials 2020, 13(20), 4659; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13204659 - 19 Oct 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1940
Abstract
The molten hydroxide electrolyte Direct Carbon Fuel Cell (MH-DCFC) is a promising type of DCFC due to its advantages, such as high ionic conductivity, higher electrochemical activity of carbon (higher anodic oxidation rate and lower overpotentials) and high efficiency of carbon oxidation due [...] Read more.
The molten hydroxide electrolyte Direct Carbon Fuel Cell (MH-DCFC) is a promising type of DCFC due to its advantages, such as high ionic conductivity, higher electrochemical activity of carbon (higher anodic oxidation rate and lower overpotentials) and high efficiency of carbon oxidation due to lower operating temperature (the dominant product of carbon oxidation is CO2 vs. CO). Accordingly, the MH-DCFC can be operated at lower temperatures (roughly 673–873 K), and thus cheaper materials can be used to manufacture the cell. Nonetheless, MH-DCFCs are still under development due to several fundamental and technological challenges such as corrosion problems. Selection of materials and development of a structure that ensures adequate availability and durability of the cell is crucial for the optimization of the MH-DCFC performance and the further development of that technology. This article presents the operating characteristics of the MH-DCFC made of different construction materials, such as carbon steel, stainless steel, and nickel and its alloys. Nickel and its alloys have proven to be the best materials for the construction of individual elements of the fuel cell. Inconel alloy 600 was a good catalytic material for cathodes with good corrosion resistance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances and Challenges in Carbon Fuel Cells)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Back to TopTop