Phase stabilities in molten Li/K carbonate of efficient matrix materials for molten carbonate fuel cells: thermodynamic calculations and experimental investigations

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the thermodynamics and experimental performance of Al, Zr, and Ce species under anode and cathode gas conditions in Li/K carbonate at 650 A degrees C. Among the Al, Zr, and Ce species investigated, we found that lithium aluminate (LiAlO(2)), lithium zirconate (Li(2)ZrO(3)), and cerium/ceria oxide (CeO(2)) were the most stable materials. Experimentally, we performed immersion tests in molten (Li(0.62)/K(0.38))(2)CO(3) at 650 A degrees C to evaluate the phase and microstructure stabilities of these materials. The gamma-LiAlO(2) phase transformation, determined using X-ray diffractometry, was dependent on the immersion time. We performed similar measurements for alpha-LiAlO(2), Li(2)ZrO(3), and CeO(2) materials in molten Li/K carbonate at 650 A degrees C. From immersion tests, the presence of the alpha-LiAlO(2) phase revealed that phase transformation of gamma-LiAlO(2) occurs in Li/K carbonate melts under cathode gas atmospheres; in contrast, no phase transformation was evident after immersion of the pure alpha-LiAlO(2) phase in molten carbonate for 5,000 h. Furthermore, we found that Li(2)ZrO(3) and CeO(2) were stable phases after immersion in molten carbonate at 650 A degrees C, under both anode and cathode gas atmospheres, for more than 5,000 h.