- Hydrogen, or a hydrogen-rich fuel, is fed to the anode where a catalyst separates hydrogen's negatively charged electrons from positively charged ions (protons).
- At the cathode, oxygen combines with electrons and, in some cases, with species such as protons or water, resulting in water or hydroxide ions, respectively.
- For polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell, protons move through the electrolyte to the cathode to combine with oxygen and electrons, producing water and heat.
- The electrons from the anode side of the cell cannot pass through the electrolyte to the positively charged cathode; they must travel around it via an electrical circuit to reach the other side of the cell.
- This movement of electrons is an electrical current.
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| This site maintained by: Ann Porter Demary Site updated last: 8/5/08 |
| Electrochemistry Lab
A fuel cell uses the chemical energy of hydrogen
to cleanly and efficiently produce electricity, with water and
heat as by products. Fuel cells are unique in terms of the variety
of Fuel cells have several benefits over conventional combustion-based
technologies currently used in many power plants and passenger
vehicles. They produce much smaller quantities of greenhouse gases
and none of the air pollutants that create smog and cause health
problems. If pure hydrogen is used as a fuel, fuel cells emit only
heat A fuel cell is a device that uses hydrogen (or hydrogen-rich
fuel) and oxygen to create electricity by an electrochemical process.
A single fuel cell consists of an electrolyte and two catalyst-coated
electrodes (a porous anode and cathode). The operating principle
of fuel cell is as follows.
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Research Tennessee Tech University P.O. Box 5077 Cookeville, TN 38505 Phone: (931) 372-3362 Fax: (931) 372-6345 E-mail: mfgctr@tntech.edu |
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