History and Growth of Fuel Cells

Fuel Cells in Action Allis Chalmers Tractor Demo Frances Thomas Bacon’s 6Kw fuel cell Karl Kordesch’s Fuel Cell powered Motorcycle

Hydrogen Powered Cars As early as 1809, an amateur inventor submitted a patent for a hydrogen powered car Around the time of Fuel Cell exploration, the steam engine was taking part in an industrialized society However, as a heat based engine, large amounts of energy within the fuel was lost due to low efficiency

Journeys in Research The first fuel cell was designed by William R. Grove tubes with hydrogen and oxygen gas were placed into beakers of sulfuric acid Multiple beakers were connected by attaching wires to platinum electrodes and having an external wire go around the system to allow electrons to flow in the circuit and do external work

Grove called his invention a “gaseous voltaic battery” The beakers in a series produced enough electricity to hydrolyze water into hydrogen and oxygen

What Grove Learned The output of electricity dropped dramatically unless a layer of the sulfuric acid electrolyte was reapplied to the electrode Putting Cells in a series produced more power The setup required large amounts of expensive platinum to catalyze the reaction Gases could be made to react chemically and produce electricity in an electrochemical reaction similar to a battery

First Practical Design Ludwig Mond worked with Carl Langer to make a “new form of gas battery” To Solve Grove’s Electrolyte problem, they designed a diaphragm to hold the sulfuric acid and prevent flooding of the electrode

Ditch the Beaker, make a Sandwich On one side of Mond’s sandwich design, hydrogen gas was pumped through, on the other oxygen gas, with the electrolyte layer of sulfuric acid in between and an external wire through which electrons could travel and do work

Wilhelm’s Answers Following Grove’s experiment, much debate raged on in the scientific community as to how the gas battery worked Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald hoped that Electrochemistry could be advanced to replace inefficient steam and heat engine technologies He described Oxidation and Reduction occurring between hydrogen and oxygen in a fuel cell as the mechanism by which electricity is produced

William W. Jacques’ carbon battery The Steam Engine uses Coal as fuel, unfortunately, most of the energy in the fuel is expelled as heat If less energy released by coal is converted into heat, then more of that energy can be made to do useful work William Jacques set out to make a cell that would convert coal into electricity directly

Jacques melted potash (K2CO3) to make a molten carbonate electrolyte Jacques melted potash (K2CO3) to make a molten carbonate electrolyte. He then submerged a lump of coal attached to a platinum wire and blew air into the system The apparatus was suspended in a heated pot Process was efficient, but the need for it to be heated, contamination of the electrolyte (by carbonic acid), and the expensive cost associated with the materials made the process uneconomical

Emil Baur and High Temperature Fuel Cells Baur continued research into high temperature fuel cells Baur with Haber (1904) concluded that a direct coal fuel cell would never be practical, since the reaction would consume the electrolyte Baur continued research into electrolytes for high temperature fuel cells

Search for a high temperature electrolyte At high temperatures, liquid electrolytes become difficult to manage If a electrolyte was solid at high temperatures, then the setup for an apparatus would be easier to handle At high temperatures most solid electrolytes have high resistances, reducing efficiency dramatically

Solid Oxide, like a rock? Baur and Preis constructed a solid oxide fuel cell The Solid Oxide fuel cell used a solid electrolyte to conduct ions, however, problems of resistance in ceramics used was a problem A mixture of ceramics, an metal oxides such as ZrO2, Y2O3, and others to find a mixture with low resistance, durability, and low cost. Unfortunately, the only practical electrolytes they produced used precious metals and were expensive to build and use

Thomas Bacon Bacon was inspired by the belief that the electrolysis of water could be reversible Using an engineering approach, Bacon designed methods to contain and preserve the electrolyte’s functionality Designed a double layer electrodes, which allowed gas to diffuse into the liquid electrolyte, but prevented the electrolyte from flooding out Also designed electrodes that were stable and had less electrical resistance (from lithium doping)

What is the fuss about Fuel Cells?