Influence of the Thin Anode Geometry on the Performance of Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells

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ABSTRACT The Ni-Al anodes of the molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) with three different structures were successfully fabricated in order to reduce the thickness of the anode down to 0.3 mm; one was the non-supported anode made by a conventional tape casting method, and others were the supported anodes made by lamination or direct casting on the nickel screen. It was seen from the physical analyses and cell operation that the supported thin anodes made by direct casting showed good mechanical strength and cell performance because of a good contact between the anode materials and the support. The single cell using the above anode showed the cell voltage of 0.858 V at the current density of 150mA/cm 2 with the nitrogen cross-over of only 0.6% at the operation time of 1,000 h, which was similar to the performance of the conventional thick (0.7 mm) anode. The ability to utilize a thin configuration of anode should cut down the amount of nickel alloy and consequently reduce its manufacturing cost.KEY WORDS : Molten carbonate fuel cell(용융탄산염 연료전지), Ni-Al anode(니켈-알루미늄 연료극), Supported thin anode(지지체가 있는 얇은 연료극), Direct casting(직접 캐스팅), Cell performance(셀 성능)