Addition of potassium tungstate to the electrolyte of a molten carbonate fuel cell

Materials development for cell components is of great importance in prolonging the life of molten carbonate fuel cells because these systems operate at high temperature in corrosive environments. The effects of the addition of K2WO4 to the electrolyte are evaluated by out-of-cell tests and single-cell tests. The former tests show that K2WO4 addition effectively retards sintering of the anode, corrosion of the stainless-steel separator and phase transformation of the matrix substrate. Deposition of tungsten near the anode occurs in a cell test of 10,000 h. This suggests that tungsten suppresses the sintering of the anode.