forward current charging operation a reverse current charging operation an oxygen less operation and an open circuit operation the oxygen less operation and the open circuit operation can be performed simultaneously one method of reforming using these reforming operations is as follows assuming the fuel cell is operating with a 0 5 a forward current in a first step the forward current is increased for a period of time e g 3 a for 15 seconds in a second step the forward current is decreased back to 0 5 a these two steps are then repeated in a third and a fourth step it should be noted that greater forward current in the first and third steps translates to greater improvement in performance also it has been observed that greater performance improvement is achieved if the voltage in the second and fourth steps is reduced to almost zero in a fifth step a reverse current e g 3 a is applied for a short period of time e g 15 seconds in a sixth step the cell is operated with a forward current of 0 5 a for a short period of time e g 15 seconds these two steps are then repeated in a seventh and an eighth step in a ninth step the airflow to the cathode is interrupted and the cell is operated in open circuit mode for a period of time e g two minutes or more in a tenth step the airflow to the cathode is.