ME F414

Fuel Cell Science and Technology

Dr. Tribeni Roy

Instructor-in-charge
tribeni.roy@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in

8/30/2021 1
 Today’s class

• General introduction

• Course content

• Learning objective

• Text and reference books

• Evaluation scheme

• Course plan

• Consultation hours

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 Course content

Introduction to fuel cell, types, advantages and applications; Fuel cell

thermodynamics, electrochemistry, charge transport, heat and mass
transport; Fuel cell modelling and simulation. In-situ, ex-situ
experimental characterization techniques viz. polarization curve,
electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, current density mapping
etc. Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell including direct liquid
fuel cell; Other fuel cells viz. SOFC, AFC, MCFC, PAFC, biological
fuel cells etc. and recent development.

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 Learning objective

• Electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems are

seen as a pathway to achieve net zero carbon emissions in the
future. Such systems include fuel cells, batteries and
supercapacitors.
• In this course, an in-depth understanding of the fundamental
physics of the fuel cell technology and its impact globally in
reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be covered.
• The course will cover both theoretical aspects as well as
various electrochemical characterization techniques for
understanding the behaviour of fuel cells.
• Apart from that, the different types of fuel cells and its usage in
the area of electric vehicles, space applications etc. will also be
discussed.

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 Text and reference books

Text Books
1. R. O’ Hayre, S. Cha, W. Colella, F. Prinz. Fuel Cell Fundamentals. John
Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, 3rd ed., (2016).

Reference books
1. J. Larminie, A. Dicks. Fuel Cell Systems Explained. John Wiley & Son,
England, 2nd ed., 2003.
2. C. Spiegel. Designing and Building Fuel Cells. McGraw-Hill, New
York, 1st ed., 2007.
3. S. Srinivasan, Fuel Cells: From Fundamentals to Applications,
Springer Science, New York, 2006.

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 Evaluation scheme

Duration Weightage
Components Date Remarks
(minutes) (%)
AUGSD-
Mid-semester test 90 25 OB
AGSRD
To be
Quiz/Seminar/Project
-- 40 Announced in OB
/Assignment
the class
Comprehensive AUGSD-
120 35 OB
Examination. AGSRD

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 Course plan

Refer handbook

Consultation hours

To be discussed

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 tribeni.roy@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in

8/30/2021 8
 ME F414
Fuel Cell Science and Technology

Dr. Tribeni Roy

Instructor-in-charge
tribeni.roy@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in

8/30/2021 9
 Introduction to Fuel Cells

8/30/2021 10
 Introduction
2013

Guitar powered by a hydrogen fuel cell generator

Imperial College London
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HNhVv4A6y8&ab_channel=BillyWu
8/30/2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V5UO2BYAaY&ab_channel=BillyWu
11
 Introduction
2021

8/30/2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xITg8l7FgEo&ab_channel=NDTV 12
 Introduction

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 Introduction

What does this mean in terms of fuel

cell technology???

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 Introduction

• You can think of a fuel cell as a “factory” that takes fuel as

input and produces electricity as output

• Like a factory, a fuel cell will continue to churn out product

(electricity) as long as raw material (fuel) is supplied

• It will transform the chemical energy stored in a fuel into

electrical energy

• Combustion engines also take the chemical energy stored in a

fuel and transform it into useful mechanical or electrical energy.
How is it different from a fuel cell?

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 Introduction
• In a conventional combustion engine, fuel is burned, releasing
heat

• To produce electricity directly from the chemical reaction by

somehow harnessing the electrons as they move from high-
energy reactant bonds to low-energy product bonds

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 A simple fuel cell
• In a fuel cell, the hydrogen combustion reaction is split into two
electrochemical half reactions:

• By spatially separating these reactions, the electrons

transferred from the fuel are forced to flow through an
external circuit (thus constituting an electric current) and do
useful work before they can complete the reaction.

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 A simple fuel cell
• Spatial separation is accomplished by
employing an electrolyte. An electrolyte is a
material that allows ions (charged atoms) to
flow but not electrons.

• At a minimum, a fuel cell must possess two

electrodes, where the two electrochemical
half reactions occur, separated by an
electrolyte.

• This fuel cell consists of two platinum

A simple H2 – O2 fuel cell
8/30/2021
electrodes dipped into sulphuric acid (an
aqueous acid electrolyte). Hydrogen gas,
bubbled across the left electrode, is split
into protons (H+) and electrons
18
 A simple fuel cell
• The protons can flow through the electrolyte,
but the electrons cannot

• Instead, the electrons flow from left to right

through a piece of wire that connects the
two platinum electrodes

• When the electrons reach the right electrode,

they recombine with protons and bubbling
oxygen gas to produce water

• If a load (e.g., a light bulb) is introduced

A simple H2 – O2 fuel cell along the path of the electrons, the flowing
electrons will provide power to the load,
causing the light bulb to glow
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 Energy density and power density

• For portable fuel cells and other mobile energy conversion

devices, power density and energy density are more
important than power and energy because they provide
information about how big a system needs to be to deliver a
certain amount of energy or power.

High energy density High power density

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 Energy density and power density

• Power density refers to the amount of power that can be

produced by a device per unit mass or volume.

• Energy density refers to the total energy capacity available to

the system per unit mass or volume.

• Volumetric energy density – W/cm3, gravimetric energy

density – Wh/g

• Volumetric power density – Wh/cm3, gravimetric power

density – W/g

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 Advantages of fuel cell

• Produce electricity directly from chemical energy, far more

efficient than combustion engines
• No moving parts
• Easy independent scaling between power (determined by the
fuel cell size) and capacity (determined by the fuel reservoir size)

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 Limitations of fuel cell

• Cost represents a major barrier to fuel cell implementation

• Fuel cell technology is currently only economically competitive

in a few highly specialized applications (e.g., onboard the
Space Shuttle orbiter).

• Power density is another significant limitation

• Combustion engines and batteries generally outperform fuel

cells on a volumetric power density basis; on a gravimetric
power density basis, the race is much closer

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 ME F414
Fuel Cell Science and Technology

Dr. Tribeni Roy

Instructor-in-charge
tribeni.roy@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in

8/30/2021 24
 Brief overview of last class

• Basics of fuel cell

• Advantages

• Limitations (to be continued in this class)

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 Fuel cell

• A portion of the water is used by the fuel cell to ensure an optimum

state of hydration, allowing it to function as efficiently as possible
• A large amount is consumed by most of the stationary power
products and materials handling fuel cells
• The remainder is exhausted as a very small amount of water vapor
8/30/2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BihPQmNEdcY&ab_channel=PlugPower 26
 Hydrogen fuel cell EV

8/30/2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WstoYbxeR8g&ab_channel=ImperialCollegeLondon 27
 Limitations of fuel cell

• Cost represents a major barrier to fuel cell implementation

• Fuel cell technology is currently only economically competitive

in a few highly specialized applications (e.g., onboard the
Space Shuttle orbiter).

• Power density is another significant limitation

• Combustion engines and batteries generally outperform fuel

cells on a volumetric power density basis; on a gravimetric
power density basis, the race is much closer

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 Limitations of fuel cell

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 Limitations of fuel cell

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 Limitations of fuel cell

• Fuel availability and storage pose further problems

• Fuel cells work best on hydrogen gas, a fuel that is not widely
available, has a low volumetric energy density, and is difficult
to store

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 Limitations of fuel cell

• Operational temperature compatibility concerns

• Susceptibility to environmental poisons

• Durability under start–stop cycling

• Fuel cell adoption will be severely limited unless technological

solutions can be developed to hurdle these barriers.

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 Basic Fuel Cell Types

Phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC), Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC),
Alkaline fuel cell (AFC), Molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), Solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC)

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 Basic Fuel Cell Operation
• The current (electricity) produced by a fuel
cell scales with the size of the reaction area
where the reactants, the electrode, and the
electrolyte meet

• Larger surface areas translate into larger

currents

• To provide large reaction surfaces that

maximize surface-to-volume ratios, fuel cells
are usually made into thin, planar structures
Simplified planar anode–
electrolyte–cathode • The electrodes are highly porous to further
structure of a fuel cell
increase the reaction surface area and ensure
good gas access
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 Basic Fuel Cell Operation

• One side of the planar structure is provisioned

with fuel (the anode electrode), while the
other side is provisioned with oxidant (the
cathode electrode)

• Thin electrolyte layer spatially separates the

fuel and oxidant electrodes and ensures that
the two individual half reactions occur in
isolation from one another
Simplified planar anode–
electrolyte–cathode
structure of a fuel cell

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 Basic Fuel Cell Operation

Cross sectional view of planar fuel cell illustrating major steps in

electrochemical generation of electricity:
1 – Reactant delivery (transport) into the fuel cell
2 – Electrochemical reaction
3 – Ionic conduction through the electrolyte and electronic conduction
through the external circuit
4 – Product removal from the fuel cell
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 Fuel Cell Performance

The performance of a fuel cell device can be summarized with a

graph of its current–voltage characteristics

Schematic of fuel cell i–V curve. In contrast to the ideal, thermodynamically predicted
voltage of a fuel cell (dashed line), the real voltage of a fuel cell is lower (solid line) due to
unavoidable losses. Three major losses influence the shape of this i–V curve

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