Investigations on the reaction characteristics of direct carbon fuel cell with molten antimony anode

In order to investigate the reaction characteristics of direct carbon fuel cell with the molten antimony anode, the corresponding experimental system together with the reactor is designed and manufactured. The predicted reaction mechanisms in the molten Sb anode are analysed before the experiment. Then the cell performances including the open circuit voltage, the maximum current density and the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy are tested in the battery, the reducing gas fuel and the carbon fuel modes, respectively. The effects of reaction temperature and Sb quantity on the cell performance are studied. The results show that the cell performance can be improved by increasing the reaction temperature in all of three modes and deteriorated with too less antimony in the first two modes. The cell performance using the molten Sb anode is also compared with that employing the molten Sn anode, in which the discrepancies are analysed and the optimization methods are proposed.