Fuel Cells and its applications -Towards a Green Technology

Sir William Robert Grove invented Gas batteries in 1839.

Fuel cells are generally considered as a clean, efficient and silent technology that can produce electricity and heat.

The Basic Principle:

The core of each fuel cell consists of an electrolyte and two electrodes. At the negative anode, a fuel such as hydrogen is being oxidized, while at the positive cathode, oxygen is reduced.
Ions are transported through the electrolyte from one side to the other.

The type of electrolyte determines the temperature window of operation.

Why the interest in fuel cells ?

Typically, a process of electricity generation from fuels involve several energy conversion steps:

These four steps of processes are otherwise known as Conventional Energy System. But fuel cell circumvents all these processes and generates electricity in a single step, without involving any moving parts. Thus it has got very high efficiency. It is one of the Non-conventional Energy Systems.

Advantages of Fuel Cell:

Fuel cells have several advantages, which are as follows, Simple to design, manufacture and operate Longer period of use than conventional batteries Wide range of operation (low to several 100 kW)

High fuel efficiency (45% to 50%)

No harmful pollutants like oxides of nitrogen and sulfur which are typical combustion by products

Types of Fuel cells:

1. Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC)

2. Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC)

3. Phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC)

4. Molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC)

5. Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)

6. Alkaline fuel cell (AFC)

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Working diagram of various fuel cells