Carbon-oxygen fuel cell
AssigneeCellTech Power LLC
InventorTao T. Tao
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a fuel cell that use carbon and oxygen as fuel sources. In particular, the fuel cell comprises a carbon-containing anode, an electrolyte and a solid state cathode. Heating the fuel cell to temperatures of 400° C.-2000° C. provides an electrical output of at least 1 mW·cm−2. The present invention also discloses a method for generating electricity with a fuel cell comprising a carbon-containing anode, an electrolyte and a solid state cathode.
Claims71
An electricity producing fuel cell comprising:
- a carbon-containing anode:
- an electrolyte having a melting temperature of between about 300° C. and about 2000° C. in contact with said anode at a first contact surface area, allowing passage of oxygen anions to said anode:
- and
- a solid state cathode in contact with said electrolyte at a second contact surface area, for ionizing oxygen to the oxygen anions, said fuel cell being operable at a temperature of between about 700° C. and about 1200° C.
An electricity producing fuel cell comprising:
- a carbon-containing anode;
- an electrolyte having a melting temperature of between about 300° C. and about 2000° C. in contact with said anode at a first contact surface area, allowing passage of oxygen anions to said anode;
- and
- a solid state cathode in contact with said electrolyte at a second contact surface area, for ionizing oxygen to the oxygen anions, said fuel cell being operable at a temperature of between about 400° C. and about 2000° C.,
- said fuel cell having an electrical output of at least 1 mW·cm−2 of said second contact surface area.
An electricity producing fuel cell comprising:
- a carbon-containing anode comprising conductive carbon having a resistivity of between about 10−5 ohm-cm and about 100 ohm-cm;
- an electrolyte having a melting temperature of between about 300° C. and about 2000° C. in contact with said anode at a first contact surface area, allowing passage of oxygen anions to said anode;
- and
- a solid state cathode in contact with said electrolyte at a second contact surface area, for ionizing oxygen to the oxygen anions, said fuel cell being operable at a temperature of between about 400° C. and about 2000° C.
An electricity producing fuel cell comprising:
- a carbon-containing anode:
- a solid state electrolyte having a melting temperature of between about 300° C. and about 2000° C. in contact with said anode at a first contact surface area, allowing passage of oxygen anions to said anode;
- a solid state cathode in contact with said electrolyte at a second contact surface area, for ionizing oxygen to the oxygen anions, said fuel cell being operable at a temperature of between about 400° C. and about 2000° C.;
- said electrolyte defining a distance therethrough from said first contact surface area to said second contact surface area of between about 1 μm to 1000 μm.
An electricity producing fuel cell comprising:
- a carbon-containing anode:
- a solid state electrolyte having a melting temperature of between about 300° C. and about 2000° C. in contact with said anode at a first contact surface area, allowing passage of oxygen anions to said anode, said solid state electrolyte selected from the group consisting of a metal oxide and a plurality of metal oxides;
- and
- a solid state cathode in contact with said electrolyte at a second contact surface area, for ionizing oxygen to the oxygen anions, said fuel cell being operable at a temperature of between about 400° C. and about 2000° C.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.