This week, we are trying to find more information about the fuel cell. Here is the summary of the information.
Due to the growing concerns on the depletion of petroleum-based energy resources and climate change, fuel cell technologies have received much attention in recent years owing to their high efficiencies and low emissions. Factors such as durability and cost still remain as the major barriers to fuel cell commercialization. Our research team consists of undergraduate mechanical and aerospace engineers of all years and we will be working on the study of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that converts chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction involving an oxidizing agent such as oxygen.
The electrochemical reactions that occur are:
H2→2H++2e- in the anode and O2+4e-+4H+→4H2O+heat
in the cathode. The PEM fuel cell generates electricity by electrochemical reactions in the anode as well as the cathode. In order to speed up the chemical reactions, PEM fuel cells utilize a catalyst. The best catalyst researched to date is platinum. The PEM fuel cell also requires a membrane that allows the protons to pass through to the cathode side. When the protons reach the cathode, they react with the oxygen and electrons to produce water, which is the only waste product produced by the fuel cell. Meanwhile, the electrons generated in the anode travel in an external circuit, creating the electrical output of the fuel cell. There are no harmful emissions as there is no combustion of the fuels.

A PEM hydrogen fuel cell has a practical efficiency of up to 60%, which leads to as little as 40% of the energy inputted becoming excess heat. However, fuel cells are negatively affected by variations in temperature. This research will look into a way of keeping the PEM fuel cells a consistent temperature, as well as utilizing the waste heat in a portable system. Two main ways of cooling, with air and with water, will be focused on. During this time, investigation will begin on which type of medium best cools the PEM fuel cells, as well as finding the best operating temperature for cells to achieve maximum efficiency. After this is done, research will be carried out to determine how much heat is removed from each fuel cell and whether or not this heat can be viably used for other purposes.