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http://dx.doi.org/10.3795/KSME-B.2015.39.6.527

Fuel Supply of Direct Carbon Fuel Cells via Thermal Decomposition of Hydrocarbons Inside a Porous Ni Anode  

Yi, Hakgyu (School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan Nat'l Univ.)
Li, Chengguo (School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan Nat'l Univ.)
Jalalabadi, Tahereh (School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan Nat'l Univ.)
Lee, Donggeun (School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan Nat'l Univ.)
Publication Information
Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B / v.39, no.6, 2015 , pp. 527-534 More about this Journal
Abstract
This study offers a novel method for improving the physical contact between the anode and fuel in a direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC): a direct generation of carbon in a porous Ni anode through the thermal decomposition of gaseous hydrocarbons. Three kinds of alkane hydrocarbons with different carbon numbers (CH4, C2H6, and C3H8) are tested. From electron microscope observations of the carbon particles generated from each hydrocarbon, we confirm that more carbon spheres (CS), carbon nanotubes (CNT), and carbon nanofibers (CNF) were identified with increasing carbon number. Raman scattering results revealed that the carbon samples became less crystalline and more flexible with increasing carbon number. DCFC performance was measured at $700^{\circ}C$ with the anode fueled by the same mass of each carbon sample. One-dimensional carbon fuels of CNT and CNF more actively produced and had power densities 148 and 210 times higher than that of the CS, respectively. This difference is partly attributed to the findings that the less-crystalline CNT and CNF have much lower charge transfer resistances than the CS.
Keywords
Direct Carbon Fuel Cell; Carbon Fueling; Porous Anode; Hydrocarbon Decomposition; Triple Phase Boundary;
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