Samaria-doped ceria electrolyte supported direct carbon fuel cell with molten antimony as the anode

Direct carbon fuel cells can efficiently convert solid carbon fuel to electricity with an almost pure CO₂ exhaust stream, which can be readily collected for industry use or CO₂ sequestration, and thus could have a major impact on reducing fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions. Here, we report a high-performance samaria-doped ceria (SDC) electrolyte supported direct carbon fuel cell based upon a solid oxide fuel cell with a molten antimony anode. The area specific resistances associated with the molten Sb-Sb₂O₃ electrode are only 0.026, 0.045, and 0.121 Ω cm² at 750, 700, and 650 C, respectively, while the maximum power outputs can reach 327, 268, and 222 mW cm^-2 at the corresponding temperatures. Moreover, SDC electrolyte shows the tolerance to corrosion of molten antimony at high temperature in the period investigated.