• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.125-131
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• 2001

A long-term variation of electrode polarization in the MCFC has been analyzed successfully using a single cell with a Au, $CO_2/O_2$ reference electrode Four different cells with different components were operated and their electrode polarizations were analyzed. As published in the literatures, the cathode polarization was larger than that of the anode. The more stable operation of a single cell with the Al-coated cell frame up to 6,000hrs indicates that the corrosion at the cell frame, particularly wet seal area, plays an important role to determine the lifetime of a MCFC. At the initial stage of the cell operation, the voltage of the cell using a cathode stabilized by the $LiCoO_2$ coating was relatively low due to the high cathode polarization. As the cell was operated and the stabilized cathode was lithiated sufficiently, the cathode polarization decreased and the cell voltage was recovered. It was observed that the voltage of the cell using the $Li_2CO_3/Na_2CO_3$ electrolyte fluctuated with operation time and the cathode polarization fluctuated along with the cell voltage quite similarly. Although the mechanisms of the voltage fluctuation were not clear yet, the results imply that the voltage fluctuation was related with a reaction in the cathode side. After testing every single cell, the cathode polarization increased with the steep decrease in the cell voltage. Thus, the cathode should be improved in order to develop more durable MCFC.