Fuel cells Definition and 42 Threads

This privately held company developed a technology to extract H from methanol stored onboard marine craft, then the H can be used in a fuel cell for power. I assume the reason for a H fuel cell vs a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) in a marine vessel is that direct methanol cannot deliver large...

I'm working with the Nernst equation with pressure differences right now: ## E = E_t + \frac{RT}{nF}ln ((P/P_0)^{\Delta \eta_G})## I'm assuming pure reactants here so, so I'm omitting the product terms: ##\frac{\Pi_{products} x_i ^{\nu_i}}{\Pi_{reactants} x_i ^{\nu_i}}## which would normally...

I am trying to understand the working of simple hydrogen fuel cell. We have anode (negative terminal), cathode (positive terminal), catalyst at anode to separate negative and positive ions of hydrogen atoms and electrolyte which allows only positive ions. We will be sending hydrogen fuel at...

Hello! I've been working on a few soil based MFCs and I have been monitoring my voltage and energy output for a week now. I've made the electrodes by covering stainless steel metal meshes with activated carbon using epoxy. I've gotten some funky results as attached. As you can see... the...

I understand that there is some research going on into gasoline (i.e. petrol) fuel cells (as opposed to the more typical hydrogen or alcohol fuel cells). How much energy can be released through a gasoline fuel cell, as opposed to simply burning it in an internal combustion engine? Will more...

Hello, I am researching about fuel cells that use Ethanol as a fuel, because I want to buy a equiptment of approximate 5 Kw (Electric) that uses Ethanol as a fuel for electric generation in anyplace, where yet there is not supply of electrical Energy by wire. Have you heard anything about this...

For several years, I've been seeing mention of growing number of residential fuel cells in Japan. But in the USA and the EU, hardly a mention. Does anyone know why the puzzling discrepancy? The American company Plug Power has been pushing fuel cells since 1997, but their penetration seems...

Hello internet! Please excuse any silly questions as I am not (obviously) a professionally educated physicist (yet!). I was doing a school project on alternative energy sources and became rather interested in hydrogen fuel cells, specifically to replace batteries in small scale, high energy...

Hi My name is Mesut. I am a Physics Ph.D. student at University of Arkansas at Little Rock. I am working on Fuel Cells. Thanks

Lately I've started learning about fuel cells, particularly proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), and a fairly basic question that has been bugging me is: Since the cathode is positive, it is clear why the electrons flow through the load and to the cathode, but why do the...

I've heard they were much more efficient then li-ion batteries and anything else really.. and drones today are all about flight time, wouldn't hydrogen fuel cells result in a great flight time advantage? why are they not in use?

Homework Statement Do fuel cell vehicles have a catalytic converter? Where is it located? The attempt at a solution[/b] I am guessing that the the question qould be referring to precious metal catalyst located at anode region which breaks the fuel into protons and electrons?

With galvanic cells, we assume that the redox reaction is kinetically inhibited so that equilibrium takes a long time to reach, so we can make a good measurement of the potential difference V. I thought fuel cells were the same originally, except that we recycle in reactants and products to make...

Hi I need to compare solid working with \frac{1}{2}O_{2}+H_{2}O+2e^{-} \rightarrow 2OH^{-} and H_{2}+2OH^{-} \rightarrow 2H_{2}O+2e^{-} and liquid fuel cells working with H_{2}\rightarrow 2H^{+}+2e^{-} and \frac{1}{2}O_{2}+2H^{+}+2e^{-} \rightarrow H_{2}O My...

Congratulations, you've created a fuel cell car! Now you need electricity or fossil fuels to create hydrogen to fuel the car. So burn some coal to get electricity. How exactly does this help the environment again? What am I missing here?

I'm doing a presentation on Hydrogen Fuel Cells for my class, but I'm having a hard time understanding how exactly it is that they work. I'm only able to find information on fuel cells and they tend to not be descriptive on the hydrogen part. If someone could please link some articles that...

So, I've read in books and on Wikipedia (see for instance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnot%27s_theorem_%28thermodynamics%29#Applicability_to_fuel_cells_and_batteries) that the Carnot efficiency cannot be applied to a fuel cell because it is not a heat engine that produces work, operating...

Homework Statement hi I've got to do a project for college and need some direction I want to know a few things more so if you can help let me know. some of the things include (if you could answer any it would be useful): why can't we make a longer electric current to harness all the...

hi I've got to do a project for college and need some direction I want to know a few things more so if you can help let me know. some of the things include (if you could answer any it would be useful): why can't we make a longer electric current to harness all the electricity produced in a...

Hello! I don't understand one easy moment in high temp solid oxydes fuel cells (SOFC): 1. Oxygen ions are moving always via solid electrolite ZrO2? SOFC without load and SOFC in short circuit modes. (High temp is default mean) 2. Electrolises process need electric energy and external...

Could somebody expain me the following questions: 1)Why hydrogen fuel cell needs catalyst (such as platinum) to operate, while elcectrochemical elements (such as zinc-air) do not? 2)Why power density increase in fuel cells leads to efficiency decrease while in electrochemical batteries it...

Hi all, I recently made my own hydrogen fuel cell and really enjoyed the process and everything I learned. I didn't know much about electronics or cells, so it was a great learning experience. In my research I found that chemical engineers made a nanometal to work as a catalyst instead of the...

What is your opinion of http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6228923n&tag=related;photovideo" segment which appeared on "60 Minutes today (February 21)? It would, if it proves out, apparently make the "fuel Cell" a feasible idea for mass use. KM

From what i understand, the only thing that makes using fuel cells in cars versus lithium batties less desirable, is the cost of hydrogen. If hydrogen can be produced extremely cheaply, assuming the same standards for compressing and transporting and storage of hydrogen, would it be better...

Although a complete cost analysis is much more complicated, the particular question only requires the following: an energy cost estimate (in terms of $/Joule). This was directed to be done by taking volumetric or mass based costs of each fuel as well as the associated energy conent or energy...

Hey all, This is just a post about some questions I had regarding electrolysis and fuel cells. I know that when electricity is forced through water the water molecules split, and produce hydrogen and oxygen gas. I was wondering how things like the electrode material and how far apart they are...

I am doing the IB and have an extended essay to write. I intend to write it in Physics. I am thinking of doing something with my PEM fuel cell. However, I've found it hard to constrain the topic into the core of physics as fuel cell theory is mostly electrical chemistry. Any suggestions for a...

batteries or fuel cells? hydrogen costs too much to be an effective fuel alternative? the catalyst required for the electrochemical conversion reaction is pricey platinum? Using hydrocarbons as a source for hydrogen we have more CO2 in the atmosphere? and require a high temperature...

Just curious as to why you don't find heat pipes or any passive cooling in larger PEM type fuel cells. I have seen them used in methanol fuel cells but not FCs for hydrogen. Is there a good reason for this? Is it because the power density of fuel cells is typically higher than that in many...

For those of you that arent very familiar with PEM fuel cells, their shortcomings basically revolve around the carbon/platinum membrane and is essentially the "heart" of the fuel cell. But why does a fuel cell need a membrane to function? If you think about it, just about all energy conversion...

What does the operating temperature of a fuel cell mean? Is this the temperature the cell generates or the temperature the cell is brought to so that it can operate? I see articles that state operating temperatures for different fuel cell systems---i.e. solid oxide 600 to 1000 C, phosphoric acid...

Hi! I'm django, new member. Right, I would like to talk about fuel cells. At first glance they are great, right! 99% fuel efficieny. But what most peopkle don't realize, is that although hydrogen might well be the most predominant element in the Universe, it is not available on Earth in...

I'm a physics student trying to do a project on fuels cells. One thing I don't get is, when the atom goes through the electr-- whatever, how does it separate into electrons and protons. I thought the only way to separate electrons from the nucleus is by extreme heat and pressure, like that...

Hey everyone, I found this really interesting article on Technology Review about a new technology that could remove the sulpur from high-temperature fuel cells. The sulpur causes the eventual shut down of these fuel cells, but with this new technology the cells continue working and are...

i was thinking over how a hydrogen fuel cell works, seperating the electrons and protons (into its ions like any other way of converting electrical energy to chemical) but i wondered if the protons as well as the electrons could be used as a current to creat a circuit such as the electrons do...

So my uncle approaches me today with some investor guide dealy. It takes albout some Power Airtech company and how it is going to introduce some zinc-air fuel cell that they developed with LLNL. Can someone explain the advantages and disadvantages of such a system. They made it out to be greater...

About an year ago, i had heard a lot about the upcoming technology of fuel cells. i was pretty intrigued by the description that it combined, hydrogen and oxygen to form pure water. no wastage. i believed it would be the alternative fuel we were in search of. why then is there not much...

Is it possible to make fuel cells that run of ethanol or even sugar? :confused: Is it a good idea? Why/Why not?

I've got a problem. I tried to see what would happen when putting a fuel cell and electrolysis in a circle. I end up with infinite energy, so I must be doing something wrong. Electrolysis 4 H2O -> 4 H+ + 4 OH- 4 H+ + 4 e- -> 4 H -> 2 H2 || The H2 is lead to the fuel cell anode 4 OH- ->...

My chemistry book says it is impossible to use anything but hydrogen in a fuel cell, but does not say why. does anyone know why?

Does anyone have any hands on expierence with Hydrogen fuel cells used as the backup source on UPSs.

Being fairly new to the whole fuel cell thing (or at least how it works), I have a couple questions. I have learned so far that Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells work using the following device and process: * Why must the hydrogen be combined with oxygen at the end of the process...