123 School Work

Fuel Cell Technology

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  Part 1Introduction to Fuel Cells and Issues Surrounding Their Development
  
       Despite the fact that fuel cell technology is considered by most a very modern invention, it was first developed by a Welsh judge named Sir William Grove in 1839. "Grove discovered that by arranging two platinum electrodes with one end of each immersed in a container of sulfuric acid and the other ends separately sealed in containers of oxygen and hydrogen, a constant current would flow between the electrodes." This technology went largely unused until another British scientist, Francis Thomas Bacon, began developing fuel cells for use in Royal Navy submarines. His work was taken up by Pratt & Whitney, who licensed it for use in the Apollo spacecraft.
       A fuel cell works according to the same electro-chemical principles as a battery, except that a fuel cell never needs recharging as long as it has fuel to power it. Hydrogen is the most common fuel used to operate fuel cells because of its simple electro-chemical properties and the fact that a perfectly working hydrogen fuel cell produces only water. "In a hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen is supplied to the fuel cell's anode, and an oxidant, commonly the oxygen present in air, is supplied to the cathode. The fuel cell strips electrons from the hydrogen atoms. These electrons move from the anode through the electric circuit to the cathode, creating an electric current that can be tapped to provide power. The electron-deficient hydrogen atoms meanwhile pass through the electrolyte to the cathode...