Fuel cells concepts

GM conducted its first fuel cell testing in 1964 and in 1968 GM produced the auto industry s first operational fuel cell powered vehicle. The first drivable fuel cell concept car was based on the GM Opel Zafira minivan in 1998. The HydroGenl fuel cell vehicle based on the Opel Zafira compact van served as the pace car for the men s and women s marathons at the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. 

The General Motors Sequel fuel cell concept car holds enough fuel for 300 miles. It fits the seven kilograms of hydrogen into an 11-inch thick skateboard chassis. The Sequel has been called a crossover SUV. Since mechanical components are replaced by electrical parts, interior layouts can be more open with more space in smaller vehicles. 

Extensive review literature exists in the area of biological fuel cells. Notably, Palmore and Whitesides summarized biological fuel cell concepts and performance up to 1992." More recently, Katz and Willner discussed recent progress in novel electrode chemistries for both microbial and enzymatic fuel cells,and Heller reviewed advances in miniature cells.This article does not duplicate these valuable contributions. Instead, we focus on the strengths and weak-... 

It has even been proposed to give up the separation of the gas chambers.156-158 Then one has to completely rely on selective catalytic activity of electrocatalysts to activate reduction or oxidation processes. In Ref.158 considerable power densities have been achieved in this way. This single chamber fuel cell concept might be indeed relevant for reduced temperature application. 

Fig. 14.41. Schematic representation of the biological fuel cell concept. (Reprinted from J. O M. Bockris and S.

Further research was performed on alkaline fuel-cell concepts (e.g. characterisation of gas diffusion electrodes) as well as on catalytic burners (reaction kinetics of H2/air mixtures). Experimental investigation of dymanic combustion phenomena was performed. Practical tests were carried out on internal combustion engines, including compression ignition engines (Altman el al., 1997 Schucan, 2000)... 

This chapter has presented a brief history of fuel cell evolution, the electrochemical fundamentals of PEM fuel cells, PEM fuel cell concepts and terminology, as well as performance analysis. Its main purpose has been to provide readers with some introductory and background information for a fundamental understanding of fuel cell AC impedance, to facilitate their journey through the next several chapters. 

Fig.1. 13. Schematic representation of the principle of the biological fuel cell concept. R and RH representtheoxidizedand reduc form of a bio-molecule. ADR is adenosine diphosphate ATP is adenosine triphospate. (Reprinted from J. O M. Bockrisand S. U. M. Khan, Surface Electrochemistry, p. 699. Plenum Press, New York, 1993.)...

Heinzel, A. Nolte, R. Ledjeff-Hey, K. Zedda, M. Membrane fuel cells—concepts and system design. Electrochim. Acta 1998, 43, 3817-3820. 

Comparison of the capacity in the year 2000 versus that in 2015 shows that the annual growth in fuel cell capacity is projected to be in the range of 500 to 4000 MW. At the cost of 1000 per kilowatt of capacity, the market value is 0.5 billion to 4 billion per year for domestic utilities. The international market is estimated to be two to three times larger. Market penetration will be assisted with the development of another fuel cell concept based on molten-salt electrolytes. In comparison to the phosphoric acid cell, the molten-salt fuel cell is a simpler engineering system, has a greater operating efficiency (50 to 60 percent versus 40 to 45 percent), but lags 5 to 10 years in commercialization status. 

The fuel cell concept has been known for more than 150 years. It was Christian Friedrich Schonbein who recognized and described the appearance of inverse electrolysis [4] shortly before Sir William Grove, the inventor of the platinum/ zinc battery, constructed his first gas voltaic battery [5]. Grove used platinum electrodes and dilute sulfuric acid as a proton conducting electrolyte. Sulfuric acid is still used today for the impregnation of porous separators serving as the electrolyte in direct methanol laboratory fuel cells [6], but the most commonly used fuel cell electrolytes today are hydrated acidic ionomers. As opposed to aqueous sulfuric acid, where the dissociated protons and the diverse sulfate anions (conjugated... 

In January 2002, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, General Motors unveiled the Autonomy fuel cell concept car. The basic component of GM s plan for a fuel cell vehicle is a so-called skateboard platform that would include both the fuel cells and the vehicle s electronic powertrain. The platform would allow a variety of body types to be built and assembled to the chassis. 

The conclusion is that it is not necessary to provide specific tax favors for hydrogen. A uniform fuel tax at a level like 615/GJ rewards the more efficient technologies. It materializes in a fuel cost advantage for the more efficient hydrogen and fuel cell concept. 

The entire fuel cell has a thickness of less than 200 pm. Figure 7-1 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the foil type micro fuel cell concept and in Figure 7-2, the demonstrator. 

Hyundai Developed a fuel cell concept car powered by methanol, with its affiliate Kia Motor Corporation. 

Finally, it is worth mentioning the microfluidic fuel cells concept [103] introduced by Whitesides in 2002 [104], based in a membraneless fuel cell design which exploit the laminar flowl that occurs in liquids flowing at low Reynolds number to eliminate convective mixing of fuels. Using this concept on-chip, membraneless, air-breathing monolithic pDAFC has been constmcted by Osaka and coworkers [105, 106] which operate with methanol, ethanol and 2-propanol solution containing sulphuric acid or phosphate buffer. The cell consists of two cathodes at the top of the channel, and the hquid fuel is supphed by capillary force to the anode formed on the bottom of the channel, as indicated in Fig. 1.12a, b. 

After a short consideration of why the fuel cell concept is so attractive but difficult to realize, we will present the currently most promising constituents of solid oxide fuel cells, discuss their advantages and shortcomings and then look into the future, that is into perspectives and the potential to develop advanced materials and better devices. 

The well-established ceramic fuel cell concepts discussed above comprise oxide ion conducting oxides as solid electrolyte separator material, distinct electrocat-alytically active electrodes made from metals or mixed conducting oxides and well separated gas chambers. Alternative approaches are based on electrolytes... 

Direct methanol fuel cell concepts with liquid electrolyte have also been considered in the past. One advantage of circulating liquid electrolytes is the option to cool the cell without additional cooling fluid. 

Geneva presented a thin film fuel cell concept in a 1962 patent [12]. Also in 1962, Sandstede from the Battelle Institute in Frankfurt gave the first report on the use of hydrocarbons as fuel in solid oxide cells [13]. At about the same time, fuel cell work was started in France by Kleitz [14], and in Britain, a patent was filed in 1963 [15] to form fuel cells by depositing layers on a porous metallic carrier. In Japan, Takahashi published in 1964 his first results obtained on fuel cells with solid oxide electrolytes [16]. 

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