Fuel Cell
Tired of high priced gasoline for your car? Worried about the environment? For years, scientists have being working on an energy alternative that holds promises to change the way we live by changing the source of fuel for some of our most basic energy-using engines. This new technology in development is called a fuel cell. A fuel cell provides a DC (direct current) voltage that can be used to power motors, lights, or any number of electrical appliances.
The technical name for a fuel cell is an electrochemical energy conversion device. A fuel cell converts the chemicals hydrogen and oxygen into water, and in the process it produces electricity. Other electrochemical devices in use today and for many decades is the familiar battery. The difference between a simple battery and a fuel cell is that all the chemicals are stored inside the battery. The battery converts those chemicals into electricity but eventually it "goes dead" as the chemicals are used up and you either throw it away or recharge it.
On the other hand with a fuel cell, chemicals constantly flow into the cell so as long as there is a flow of chemicals into the cell, the electricity flows out of the fuel cell.
Combustion engines the gasoline engine burn fuels and batteries converted chemical energy back into electrical energy when needed. However, fuel cells should do both tasks more efficiently.
Simply put the construction and materials in a fuel cell release electrons from the hydrogen gas creating electricity and the waste product after the electricity is used to power an electrical device is water, formed with the negative hydrogen and the oxygen.
This reaction in a single fuel cell produces only about 0.7 volts. To get this voltage up to a reasonable level, many separate fuel cells must be combined to form a fuel-cell stack.
One problem with using hydrogen is that it is not easily stored for consumer use. Other alternatives could be natural gas, propane, and methanol gas. The primary objective of using fuel cell technology is pollution reduction. However, the fuel cell is also very efficient. 80% of the fuel use in these cells is converted into usable energy compared to only 20% for a gasoline powered engine and about 30% overall for a battery powered electric vehicle.
There is no question that the fuel cell holds great promise for the future. However, the fuel cell technology must still put together all the pieces of finding the right 'fuel' source that is easy to store and deliver to the consumer, efficiency of the vehicle using fuel cells, and the cost for the total package.
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