Hydrogen fuel does not occur naturally on Earth and thus is not an energy source, but is an energy carrier. Currently it is most frequently made from methane or other fossils fuels. However, it can be produced from a wide range of sources (such as wind, solar, or nuclear) that are intermittent, too diffuse or too cumbersome to directly propel vehicles. Integrated wind-to-hydrogen plants, using electrolysis of water, are exploring technologies to deliver costs low enough, and quantities great enough, to compete with traditional energy sources.
As well as this technology is used for other alternative use.
This cell is really very economical and gives better efficiency than others. A block diagram is shown in following which shows how this cell work and showing the different parts of it.
The most important design features in a fuel cell are:
- The electrolyte substance. The electrolyte substance usually defines the type of fuel cell.
- The fuel that is used. The most common fuel is hydrogen.
- The anode catalyst, which breaks down the fuel into electrons and ions. The anode catalyst is usually made up of very fine platinum powder.
- The cathode catalyst, which turns the ions into the waste chemicals like water or carbon dioxide. The cathode catalyst is often made up of nickel.
A typical fuel cell produces a voltage from 0.6 V to 0.7 V at full rated load. Voltage decreases as current increases, due to several factors:
- Ohmic loss (voltage drop due to resistance of the cell components and interconnects)
- Mass transport loss (depletion of reactants at catalyst sites under high loads, causing rapid loss of voltage).
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