News tagged with fuel cell
Rational design can improve hydrogen fuel cell efficiency
(PhysOrg.com) -- Hydrogen fuel cells, in which the chemical energy of hydrogen is converted into electricity, offer the potential for a wide variety of applications, especially in transportation and power ...
Feb 29, 2012 |
4.4 / 5 (12) |
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Cheap, abundant cathode material found for producing hydrogen fuel (w/ video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- By replacing catalysts made of expensive noble metals like platinum with cheaper, earth-abundant materials, researchers have taken a step toward enabling the large-scale production of hydrogen ...
May 10, 2011 |
4.4 / 5 (22) |
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Silicon nanohole solar cells aim to make photovoltaics cost-competitive
(PhysOrg.com) -- Due to the increasing demand for renewable energy sources, photovoltaic solar cells have advanced significantly over the past decade. Since 2002, photovoltaic production worldwide has been ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
May 07, 2010 |
4.5 / 5 (26) |
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'Unzipped' carbon nanotubes could help energize fuel cells, batteries
Multi-walled carbon nanotubes riddled with defects and impurities on the outside could replace some of the expensive platinum catalysts used in fuel cells and metal-air batteries, according to scientists at ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
May 27, 2012 |
4.4 / 5 (7) |
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Engineers develop novel system for producing conductive films
(Phys.org) -- Yale engineers have developed a novel automated system for generating strong, flexible, transparent coatings with promising uses in lithium-ion battery and fuel cell production, among other applications.
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
May 07, 2012 |
5 / 5 (2) |
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'Tunable' metal nanostructures for fuel cells, batteries and solar energy
(PhysOrg.com) -- For catalysts in fuel cells and electrodes in batteries, engineers would like to manufacture metal films that are porous, to make more surface area available for chemical reactions, and highly ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Apr 03, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
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Unique salt allows energy production to move inland
Production of energy from the difference between salt water and fresh water is most convenient near the oceans, but now, using an ammonium bicarbonate salt solution, Penn State researchers can combine bacterial ...
Technology / Energy & Green Tech
Mar 01, 2012 |
4.5 / 5 (15) |
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Breakthrough in designing cheaper, more efficient catalysts for fuel cells
University of California, Berkeley, chemists are reimagining catalysts in ways that could have a profound impact on the chemical industry as well as on the growing market for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Feb 23, 2012 |
4.8 / 5 (13) |
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Stockholm techies use water to charge mobile phones
(PhysOrg.com) -- A Swedish company headquartered in Stockholm has figured out how to power smartphones using a system that includes some water, a tray, a little round container, and an eyeglass case styled ...
Technology / Energy & Green Tech
Jan 12, 2012 |
4.2 / 5 (22) |
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Saltwater boosts microbial electrolysis cells to cleanly produce hydrogen
A grain of salt or two may be all that microbial electrolysis cells need to produce hydrogen from wastewater or organic byproducts, without adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere or using grid electricity, ...
Technology / Energy & Green Tech
Sep 19, 2011 |
4.6 / 5 (5) |
9
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Researchers begin testing of promising new nanomaterial for hydrogen storage
Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are working to optimize a promising new nanomaterial called nanoblades for use in hydrogen storage. During their testing of the new material, they have discovered ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Sep 14, 2011 |
5 / 5 (11) |
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Breakthrough in hydrogen fuel cells: Chemists develop way to safely store, extract hydrogen
A team of USC scientists has developed a robust, efficient method of using hydrogen as a fuel source.
Aug 30, 2011 |
4.5 / 5 (29) |
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Etch-a-sketch with superconductors
Reporting in Nature Materials this week, researchers from the London Centre for Nanotechnology and the Physics Department of Sapienza University of Rome have discovered a technique to 'draw' superconducting shapes ...
Aug 22, 2011 |
5 / 5 (4) |
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Inexpensive catalyst that makes hydrogen gas 10 times faster than natural enzyme
Looking to nature for their muse, researchers have used a common protein to guide the design of a material that can make energy-storing hydrogen gas. The synthetic material works 10 times faster than the original ...
Aug 11, 2011 |
4.6 / 5 (20) |
9
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New insights on an old polymer material, Nafion, will enable design of better batteries
Designing new materials depends upon understanding the properties of today's materials. One such material, Nafion, is a polymer that efficiently conducts ions (a polymer electrolyte) and water through its ...
Jun 19, 2011 |
4.8 / 5 (6) |
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Fuel cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical conversion device. It produces electricity from fuel (on the anode side) and an oxidant (on the cathode side), which react in the presence of an electrolyte. The reactants flow into the cell, and the reaction products flow out of it, while the electrolyte remains within it. Fuel cells can operate virtually continuously as long as the necessary flows are maintained.
Fuel cells are different from electrochemical cell batteries in that they consume reactant from an external source, which must be replenished – a thermodynamically open system. By contrast, batteries store electrical energy chemically and hence represent a thermodynamically closed system.
Many combinations of fuels and oxidants are possible. A hydrogen fuel cell uses hydrogen as its fuel and oxygen (usually from air) as its oxidant. Other fuels include hydrocarbons and alcohols. Other oxidants include chlorine and chlorine dioxide.
The principle of the fuel cell had been demonstrated by Sir William Grove in 1839, and other investigators had experimented with various forms of fuel cell. The first practical fuel cell was developed by Francis Thomas Bacon in 1959.
For more information about Fuel cell, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
