Fuel Cells

Introduction
What is fuel cell?
A Fuel cell is a electrochemical device that converts
chemical energy into electrical energy
•Every fuel cell has two electrodes, one positive and one
negative, called, respectively, the cathode and anode. The
reactions that produce electricity take place at the electrodes
•In all types of fuel cells, hydrogen is used as fuel and can be
obtained from any source of hydrocarbon.
• The fuel cell transforms hydrogen and oxygen into electric
power, emitting water as their only waste product.

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• Every fuel cell also has an electrolyte, which carries
electrically charged particles from one electrode to the
other, and a catalyst, which speeds the reactions at the
electrodes.
• A single fuel cell generates a tiny amount of direct
current (DC) electricity.
• A converter is used to produce AC current
• In practice, many fuel cells are usually assembled into a
stack. Cell or stack, the principles are the same.
• In 1932, Francis Bacon developed the first successful FC.
He used hydrogen, oxygen, an alkaline electrolyte, and
nickel electrodes.

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What is a fuel cell
 Itis really just a battery
 Can refill with fuel and that is
+ +
why it is called a fuel cell.
 One cell is like a 1 Volt battery
 But can easily produce 500 to Hydrogen

1,000 amps of electricity!!!

=
 To power a car need about 100
Volts…What do we do? Air

- -
Volts will add by stacking the batteries

 1 Volt is now 100 Volts!

100 Volts at 500 amps = 50,000 Watts of electricity!

Now we can power a car
A fuel cell configuration

(+) (-)

Anode Cathode
Electrolyte

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A fuel cell consists of two electrodes
namely an anode and a cathode and
sandwiched around an electrolyte.
An electrolyte is a substance, solid or
liquid, capable of conducting moving ions
from one electrode to other.

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Principle, construction and working of H2-O2 fuel cell

Electrons
(e-)

Cations (+ve)

Fuel Oxidant

Electrolyte

Fuel Permeable Oxidant Permeable

Anode Cathode
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Principle:
The fuel is oxidized on the anode and oxidant
reduced on the cathode. One species of ions are
transported from one electrode to the other
through the electrolyte to combine there with
their counterparts, while electrons travel
through the external circuit producing the
electrical current.

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Working
The Fuel gas (Hydrogen rich) is passed towards the anode
where the following oxidation reaction occurs:

H2 (g) = 2H+ + 2e-

The liberated electrons from Hydrogen in anode side do not
migrate through electrolyte.

Therefore, they pass through the external circuit where work

is performed, and then finally go into the cathode.

On the other hand, the positive hydrogen ions (H+) migrate

across the electrolyte towards the cathode.

PH 0101 Unit-5 Lecture-6 10

 At the cathode side the Hydrogen atom reacts with Oxygen
gas (from air) and electrons to form water as byproduct
according to:

The overall cell reaction is

fuel + oxidant product + Heat

2 H+ + 1/2 O2 + 2e - H2O + Heat

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Electro-Chemistry

2H+1 + O-2 H2O + Energy

In a rocket we convert all the energy to heat

energy

But the fundamental chemical process is electrical, so we could

convert the energy into 1.2 volts of electrical energy

2H+1 + O-2 H2O + 1.2 volts of electrical energy

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The liberated electrons from the hydrogen are responsible for
the production of electricity.
The water is produced by the combination of hydrogen, oxygen
and liberated electrons and is sent out from the cell.
The DC current produced by fuel cell is later converted into
AC current using an inverter for practical application.
The voltage developed in a single fuel cell various from 0.7 to
1.4 volt.
More power can be obtained by arranging the individual fuel
cells as a stack. In this case, each single cell is sandwiched
with one another by a interconnect.
Therefore, electric power ranging from 1 kW to 200 kW can be
obtained for domestic as well as industrial applications.
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Electrical power production by fuel cell

Hydrogen
Oxygen

Rotating shaft connected to generator for electricity production

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Fuel to Electrical Efficiency Comparison

No. Source of Electricity Efficiency (%)

1 Micro-Turbines 25 – 30

2 Small Gas Turbines 25 –35

3 Natural Gas Engines 30 – 42

4 Direct Fuel Cell (DFC) 47

5 DFC-Turbine 58 – 65
Types of fuel cells

There are different types of fuel cells, differentiated by the

type of electrolyte separating hydrogen from oxygen. The
types of fuel cells are:

• Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC)

• Phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFC)
• Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC)
• Alkaline fuel cells (AFC)
• Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC)
• Molten carbonate fuel cell (MFFC)

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PH 0101 Unit-5 Lecture-6 18
Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC)

Anode: C/Pt 85-105oC Cathode: C/Pt

H2 O2
H+

H2O
NAFION

H2  2H+ + 2e- O2 + 2H+ + 2e-  H2O2

H2O2 + 2H+ + 2e-  H2O

1 A/cm2 at 0.7 V
Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell (PAFC)

Anode: Pt/C 200oC Cathode: Pt/C

CH4 or H2 O2

H+
Si matrix
PTFE binding
separator

100% H2 O
H3PO4

H2 – 2e- = 2H+ O2 + 4H+ + 4e-  2H2O

 Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC)

Anode = NiO-YSZ cermet 800-1000oC Cathode = La1-xSrxMnO3

H2, CxH2x+2 O2

O2- Interconnector
1mA at 0.7V material = Mg
or Sr doped
lanthanum
Y doped chromate
ZrO2

H2 + O2-  H2O + 2e- OR O2 + 2e-  2O2-

CH4 + 4O2-  2H2O + CO2 + 8e-
Alkaline Fuel Cell (AFC)

Anode: C/Pt or Cathode: C/Pt

C/Raney Ni/Pt r.t.-80oC

H2 O2

H2O
1 A/cm2 at 0.7 V
OH-
35%
KOH

O2 + H2O + 2e-  HO2- + OH-

H2 + 2OH-  H2O + 2e- HO2- + H2O + 2e- 3OH-
Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC)

Anode: Pt/Ru/C 85-105oC Cathode: Pt/C

N
A
400 mA/cm2 at 0.5V F
at 60oC I
O
N

O2 + 2H+ + 2e-  H2O2

CH3OH + H2O CO2 + 6H+ + 6e-
H2O2 + 2H+ + 2e-  H2O
 Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC)

Anode: Ni/Al or Ni/Cr 580-700oC Cathode: NiO

H2, CxH2x+2 O2, CO2

CO32-
LiAlO3 used to
150 mA/cm2 at
0.8 V at 600oC support
Li2CO3 electrolyte
and
Na2CO3

CH4 + 2H2O  4H2 + CO2 + 4e-

O2 + 2CO2 + 4e-  2CO32-
H2 +CO32-  H2O + CO2 + 2e-
Advantages, disadvantages and applications

Advantages
•Zero Emissions: a fuel cell vehicle only emits water vapour.
Therefore, no air pollution occurs.

•High efficiency: Fuel cells convert chemical energy directly

into electricity without the combustion process. As a result,
Fuel cells can achieve high efficiencies in energy conversion.

•High power density: A high power density allows fuel cells

to be relatively compact source of electric power, beneficial
in application with space constraints.

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• Quiet operation: Fuel cells can be used in residential or
built-up areas where the noise pollution can be avoided.

• No recharge: Fuel cell systems do not require recharging.

Disadvantages

• It is difficult to manufacture and store pure hydrogen

• It is very expensive as compared to battery

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Applications

1. Portable applications
• Portable appliances and power tools
• Personal vehicles (Cars)
• Consumer electronics like laptops, cell phones
• Backup power

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2. Transportation applications

They can be used for transport application in the following

areas:
• Cars
• Industrial transportation
• Public transportation
• Commercial transportation (truck, tractors)
• Marine and Military transportation

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3. Power distribution application

Fuel cells can be used for the distribution of power in various

fields such as:
• Homes and small businesses
• Commercial and industrial sites
• Remote, off-grid locations (telecom towers, weather
stations)

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