An Ideal ChE Undergraduate Experiment

There is much interest in developing fuel cells for commercial applications. This interest is driven by technical and environmental advantages offered by the fuel cell, including high performance characteristics, reliability, durability, and clean power. A fuel cell is similar to a battery—it uses an electrochemical process to directly convert chemical energy to electricity. Unlike a battery, however, a fuel cell does not run down as long as the fuel is provided. Fuel cells are characterized by their electrolytes since the electrolyte dictates key operating factors such as operating temperature. The main features of five types of fuel cells are summarized in Table 1.