Fuel_Cells

Fuel Cells Fuel Cell Background Information 1. INTRODUCTION Petroleum, the worlds most prolific fuel, is becoming more scarce and its burning produces emissions which shoulder much of the responsibility for air pollution (Fig. 1). Contributions also come from deforestation, carbon dioxide from the burning of coal, and methane release. In order to reverse the trend of destroying the environment, a change to a more ecologically mundane resource, or method of producing energy such as hydrodynamic, wind, geothermal, solar and tidal is desirable. These methods are presently employed in a somewhat small scale, but require specific environments in order to work effectively. Fuel cells need no particular environment to work well (other than a heat sink) and is highly efficient both electrically and physically (without sound and with far fewer harmful air pollutants). A fuel cell is an electrochemical device which brings together hydrogen and oxygen, or air in the midst of a catalyst to produce electricity, heat and water. (Fig. 2) or (Fig. 2a) The single cell fixture consists a single electrolyte sandwiched between electrodes. This inner sandwich is then placed in-between current collectors which usually serve as the poles of the cell. A fuel cell generates current by transforming (usually by using cell, fuel, current, hydrogen, electrolyte, because, water, reaction, cells, through, cathode, electrons, temperature, power, oxygen, must, ions, anode, thus, gas, sites, fig, energy, voltage, side, polarization, performance, solid, efficiency, concentration, using, materials, high, electrode, while