This system used potassium hydroxide as the electrolyte and compressed hydrogen and oxygen as the reactants. In 1959, a team led by Harry Ihrig built a 15 kW fuel cell tractor for Allis-Chalmers, which was demonstrated across the U.S. This was the first commercial use of a fuel cell. GE went on to develop this technology with NASA and McDonnell Aircraft, leading to its use during Project Gemini. This became known as the "Grubb-Niedrach fuel cell". Three years later another GE chemist, Leonard Niedrach, devised a way of depositing platinum onto the membrane, which served as a catalyst for the necessary hydrogen oxidation and oxygen reduction reactions. Thomas Grubb, a chemist working for the General Electric Company (GE), further modified the original fuel cell design by using a sulphonated polystyrene ion-exchange membrane as the electrolyte. The alkaline fuel cell (AFC), also known as the Bacon fuel cell after its inventor, is one of the most developed fuel cell technologies, which NASA has used since the mid-1960s. In 1932, English engineer Francis Thomas Bacon successfully developed a 5 kW stationary fuel cell. The Brits who bolstered the Moon landings, BBC Archives. This was used by NASA to power lights, air-conditioning and communications. In 1932, Francis Thomas Bacon invented a fuel cell which derived power from hydrogen and oxygen. The energy efficiency of a fuel cell is generally between 40 and 60% however, if waste heat is captured in a cogeneration scheme, efficiencies of up to 85% can be obtained. PEMFC cells generally produce less nitrogen oxides than SOFC cells: they operate at lower temperatures, use hydrogen as fuel, and limit the diffusion of nitrogen into the anode via the proton exchange membrane which forms NOx. In addition to electricity, fuel cells produce water vapor, heat and, depending on the fuel source, very small amounts of nitrogen dioxide and other emissions. Individual fuel cells produce relatively small electrical potentials, about 0.7 volts, so cells are "stacked", or placed in series, to create sufficient voltage to meet an application's requirements. A related technology is flow batteries, in which the fuel can be regenerated by recharging. Fuel cells are classified by the type of electrolyte they use and by the difference in startup time ranging from 1 second for proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEM fuel cells, or PEMFC) to 10 minutes for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). At the cathode, another catalyst causes ions, electrons, and oxygen to react, forming water and possibly other products. At the same time, electrons flow from the anode to the cathode through an external circuit, producing direct current electricity. The ions move from the anode to the cathode through the electrolyte. At the anode, a catalyst causes the fuel to undergo oxidation reactions that generate ions (often positively charged hydrogen ions) and electrons. There are many types of fuel cells, but they all consist of an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte that allows ions, often positively charged hydrogen ions (protons), to move between the two sides of the fuel cell. They are also used to power fuel cell vehicles, including forklifts, automobiles, buses, trains, boats, motorcycles, and submarines. Fuel cells are used for primary and backup power for commercial, industrial and residential buildings and in remote or inaccessible areas. Since then, fuel cells have been used in many other applications. The alkaline fuel cell, also known as the Bacon fuel cell after its inventor, has been used in NASA space programs since the mid-1960s to generate power for satellites and space capsules. The first commercial use of fuel cells came almost a century later following the invention of the hydrogen–oxygen fuel cell by Francis Thomas Bacon in 1932. The first fuel cells were invented by Sir William Grove in 1838. Fuel cells can produce electricity continuously for as long as fuel and oxygen are supplied. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requiring a continuous source of fuel and oxygen (usually from air) to sustain the chemical reaction, whereas in a battery the chemical energy usually comes from substances that are already present in the battery. Scheme of a proton-conducting fuel cellĪ fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen ) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. ( February 2021)ĭemonstration model of a direct methanol fuel cell (black layered cube) in its enclosure. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.
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