Recent Developments in Mixed Ionic and Electronic Conducting Electrodes for the Alkali Metal Thermal Electric Converter (AMTEC)

摘要

Mixed ionic and electronic conducting electrodes (MIECEs) have recently gained more attention in therndevelopment of the Alkali Metal Thermal Electric Converter (AMTEC). The advantage of MIECEs, as their name implies,rnis that they allow both electronic transport and ionic transport within the matrix of their materials. This lowers chargerntransport resistances, which lowers overall electrical resistances of the electrochemical system, and, thus, can improvernreaction rates for a given apparent or superficial surface area of the electrode. The AMTEC system is a self-contained, selfregeneratingrncompact technology that electrochemically converts heat directly to electricity. Our latest developments forrnAMTEC MIECEs are presented. These include electrodes formulated from various blends of titanium nitride orrnmolybdenum with titanium dioxide. The general formulation, application, processing and testing methods for thesernelectrodes are presented. Measured power densities of selected MIECEs are given. The physical morphology, andrncomposition of our MIECEs are also described. Finally, a possible operational mechanism for these electrodes is proposed.