Overview of the effects of rare-earth elements used as additive materials in molten carbonate fuel cell systems

摘要

From the viewpoint of materials issues, there are some problems in molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) systems due to the corrosive and evaporative electrolytes and the high pressure caused by a stack in temperature of 650 degrees C. The rare earth metals (RE) in as material additives primarily improve the creep resistance, corrosion resistance and high temperature resistance of materials. However, efforts to enhance the properties of MCFC materials using RE have not yielded the marked effects associated with their use in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). Therefore, we have conducted this review in order to describe and discuss the effects of RE as additive materials in the context of MCFC. This review also provides information regarding the development of MCFC materials using RE.