Effect of Anode Area on the Cell Performance in a Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell

The effect of the geometrical anode area of a molten carbonate fuel cell on the cell performance was investigated with 100 cm 2 class single cells. A cell with a 100 cm 2 area anode (cell I) and another cell with a 50 cm 2 area anode (cell II) were used. The cathode area of the cells was ∼ 100 cm 2 . The cell with 50 cm 2 anode area was prepared by filling the edge area of the 100 cm 2 class cell with 100 meshes of Ni, which was wrapped by 20 μm thick Al foil. Other conditions for the preparation of the cells were identical. Cell performance was analyzed with steady-state polarization, inert gas step addition, and reactant gas addition methods. The analyses revealed that cell II showed an ∼40% larger anodic overpotential than cell I. This implies that the anode performance is less dependent on its geometrical area. Cathodic overpotential was also larger for cell II than for cell I, likely due to higher electrolyte contents at the cathode in cell II.