Comment on “Analysis of Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell Performance Using a Three-Phase Homogeneous Model” [J. Electrochem. Soc., 150, A46 (2003)]

Abstract

In this comment, we would like to point out an error that was made in the above-mentioned manuscript. The paper contains a discussion of the mass transport of a binary system (oxygen and carbon dioxide gas) in a cathode electrode of a molten carbonate fuel cell. While convection is being neglected, it is assumed that the two diffusive fluxes alone make up the mass transport of the two species. Therein lies the contradiction because these fluxes, which are meant to point in the same direction, must add up to zero by definition and cannot alone contribute to nonzero fluxes as we find them in such electrodes.