High temperature corrosion of metallic materials in molten carbonate fuel cells environment

Molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) are electrochemical devices that convert energy of a chemical reaction into electricity without any kind of combustion. So, MCFCs are promising for their high efficiency and their low environmental pollution. A limiting aspect for reaching the goal of 40,000 h of life-time is the corrosion of metallic parts of MCFC, especially for current collectors and separator plates. Generally, this corrosion leads to metal loss and to an important increase of the electrical resistance due to the formation of resistive oxides. One of the most critic components in a MCFC is the anodic side metallic components. More used choice for these components is actually a sheet of AISI31OS cladded at both sides by a Ni layer. The analysis of the behaviour of this material after different steps of corrosion in a typical molten carbonate fuel cell environment could be important to understand some phenomena that cause the damage of the anodic current collector. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.