From Fuel To Pure Water
From Fuel To Pure Water
Fuel Cells
Fuel cells convert oxygen and hydrogen to water and generate electricity without combustion. Fuel cells are quiet, effective and - because they have no moving parts - are very reliable in operation.
In connection with the space programme Apollo, NASA needed a light and reliable power supply on board the space capsule. They tookk up the development of fuel cells, at that time looked on as a curiousity from 1839. On the Apollo journey to the moon, the energy supply on board the space capsule was based on hydrogen fuel cells, and the "waste product" - water - was drunk by the crew. Today, fuel cells are common in spaceflight.
A fuel cell is a electrochemical device: electricity is produced by chemical reactions. The reactants - hydrogen and oxygen - are supplied continuously. Fuel cells are often likened to batteries that never run down.
There are several types of fuel cell with different abilities and applications. Fuel cells are normally classified accoring to the electrolyte they use.
From Fuel to Pure Water
The energy comes from the process of combining a hydrogen ion with oxygen to become water. The gases are separate by an electrolyte; in a PEM cell this is a polymer membrane that is coated with a catalyst containing platinum. The gases are directed through a system of narrow channels to the catalyst surfaces so that a positive charge is built up on the oxygen side and a negative vharge on the hydrogen side. The fuel is oxidised at the anode (-). The liberated electrons flow through an electrical circuit to the cathode (+). The circuit is completed by the H+ ions being transported through the electrolyte (the proton exchange membrane that separates fuel and oxygen) and forming water with the oxygen.
The output from a single fuel cell is small. Cells are therefore connected together to achieve the desired voltage. Several fuel cells connected together are called a fuel cell stack
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