Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology Explained

A fuel Cell is an electrochemical converter. The most common fuel cells use energy produced by a chemical reaction to produce electricity. Batteries are another form of electrochemical converter. The main difference between fuel cells and batteries is that unlike a battery, fuel cells do not require lengthy recharges, are generally more efficient, and more environmentally friendly than batteries. Fuel cells have received limited press exposure, because of their mostly experimental nature. Although the technology is progressing towards consumer usage, there has been very little exposure among the general public to fuel cells. Perhaps the most well known use of fuel cells come from within the automotive industry. Several car makers have devoted large amounts of money to Hydrogen fuel cell development for power train applications.

General Motors, Daimler AG and Honda are the three most notable proponents of Hydrogen fuel cell technology in the automotive industry. General motors has devoted more than one billion dollars over the last ten years for the development of a production ready fuel cell drive train. Daimler has taken a similar developmental approach towards fuel cell technology. There have been several working prototypes, but no production models thus far. Honda is the only automaker to produce a hydrogen vehicle for public consumption. The Clarity is a Hydrogen fuel cell vehicle that uses a polymer exchange membrane fuel cell. This is the most common type of fuel cell, because of its zero emission status and relative efficiency.

The Clarity (and other companies prototypes) use a polymer membrane fuel cell, utilizing hydrogen as the fuel. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and readily reacts with oxygen to produce water. This is what makes hydrogen in a polymer membrane fuel cell so attractive. The reaction of Hydrogen and Oxygen not only produces electrical energy, but also liquid water. Hydrogen fuel cells produce zero airborne emissions.

Hydrogen fuel cells are very simple . There is a positive end, a catalyst, an electrolyte membrane that acts as a proton exchanger and a negative end. Hydrogen enters the fuel cell through the anode (negative side) and contacts the catalyst, which facilitates the reaction with the gaseous oxygen on the Cathode (positive) side. The electron exchange between negative and positive sides of the fuel cell produces useful electricity. Each fuel cell can only produce a small amount of power, so in order to make fuel cells viable in larger applications they must be connected and stacked.

The progress of hybrid technology in the automotive industry has greatly inhibited the progress of Hydrogen fuel cell technology. The world will run out of oil eventually. As much as everyone would like to believe that is not true, there can be no denying there is a finite amount of fossil fuel on this planet. The volume of hydrogen gas in our universe is too great to be quantified. Hybrid technology may be an adequate stop gap measure to stave off the inevitable, but fuel cell technology is a reliable solution for our future. Fuel cells run clean, and are fairly efficient (but that may be deemed irrelevant should an adequate infrastructure appear). The abundance of hydrogen available to us should drive this technology to market in the near future. Consumers buying hybrids, thinking they are making a difference need to call for fuel cell technology. Stop gap hybrid technology is keeping long term fuel cell technology from progressing.