What is it about?
This chapter explains the science behind how fuel cells generate electricity through chemical reactions, focusing on the thermodynamics and electrochemistry involved. It starts with the basics: fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into water, producing power without combustion, unlike engines. Key concepts include energy balances, where the energy input from fuels equals the energy output in forms such as electricity, heat, and waste. The text describes ideal vs. real performance, using equations like the Nernst formula to show how temperature, pressure, and gas concentrations affect voltage. It covers losses from activation (slow reactions), ohmic (resistance), and concentration (gas flow limits) polarizations, which reduce efficiency. Different fuel cell types—PEMFC, AFC, PAFC, MCFC, SOFC—are compared, noting how high temperatures allow varied fuels like carbon monoxide. Efficiency is calculated as useful energy over total chemical energy, ideally around 83% for hydrogen-oxygen cells, but lower in practice. Finally, it discusses optimizing operations for applications like vehicles (high power density) or power plants (high efficiency), balancing cost, size, and performance. In simple terms, it's a guide to why fuel cells are efficient, clean power sources and how variables tweak their output, making complex physics relatable for understanding green energy tech.
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Why is it important?
Published around 2010, this chapter remains crucial amid the 2025 push for hydrogen economies and zero-emission tech, uniquely bridging fundamental thermodynamics with practical fuel cell design in a concise way not often seen in specialized texts. By detailing how factors like temperature and pressure enhance performance while explaining losses and efficiencies, it equips engineers, students, and policymakers to optimize systems for real-world use, potentially accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles, stationary power, and renewable energy integration. Its impact: fostering innovations that cut fossil fuel reliance, lower emissions, and enhance energy security, turning theoretical insights into actionable strategies for sustainable development in a climate-challenged world.
Perspectives
This chapter adopts a foundational, educational perspective on fuel cells as efficient electrochemical converters superior to heat engines, emphasizing thermodynamics to predict and improve performance under varying conditions. It views fuel cells optimistically as versatile for diverse applications, with low-temperature types, such as PEMFC, ideal for portability and high-temperature ones, like SOFC, for fuel flexibility. However, it cautions that practical losses reduce ideal efficiencies from 83% to lower, real-world values. Grounded in equations like Gibbs free energy and Nernst, the outlook stresses optimization—higher pressures/temperatures enhance output but raise costs/material challenges—advocating balanced designs for economic viability. Overall, it positions fuel cells as key to clean energy transitions, urging interdisciplinary analysis to overcome barriers for broader, sustainable implementation.
Professor Rosenberg J Romero
Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Thermodynamics of Fuel Cells, January 2011, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-84996-028-1_2.
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