HYDROGEN-BASED

FUEL CELLS
A fuel cell is an electrochemical power

source with advantages of both the

combustion engine and the battery.

Like a combustion engine, a fuel cell

runs as long as it is provided fuel; and

like a battery, fuel cells convert

chemical energy directly to electrical

energy. As an electrochemical power

source, fuel cells are not subject to the

Carnot limitations of combustion

(heat) engines.
Fuel cells bear similarity to batteries with which

they share the electrochemical nature of the power

generation process and to the engines that, unlike

batteries, work continuously consuming a fuel of

some sort. A fuel cell operates quietly and

efficiently and, when hydrogen is used as a fuel, it

generates only power and water. Thus, a fuel cell is

a zero-emission engine.

In the past, several fuel cell concepts have been

tested in the laboratory but the systems that are

being potentially considered for commercial

development are: i) alkaline fuel cells (AFCs), ii)

phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFCs), iii) polymer

electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), iv) solid polymer

Fig. 1
electrolyte direct methanol fuel cells (SPE-

DMFCs), v) molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs),

and vi) solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Among these,

PEFCs are considered attractive power systems for

quick start-up and ambient-temperature

operations. CECRI has developed world-class

PEFC stacks with power densities approaching

about 0.5 W/cm2 at 0.6 V using hydrogen as fuel

(specific energy = 33 kWh/kg) and air as the

Performance Curve of Self-Sustained 12-Cell Stack

oxidant. Fig. 1 shows a 1kW (nominal power) stack 12 300

10 250
developed at CECRI. CECRI has developed and
Power (W)

8 200

transferred the know-how for a self-supported

Voltage (V)

6 150
Air stoichiometry:2.5
Temperature:60 deg C
4 100
hydrogen-air PEFC system. Fig. 2 shows such a
2 50

300 W stack that operates at near 1 hydrogen 0 0

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
2
Current density (mA/cm )
stoichiometry using air as a coolant.
Fig. 2.
 Certain hydrogen-carrying organic fuels such as

methanol, ethanol, propanol, ethylene glycol and

diethyl ether are also considered for fuelling PEFCs

directly. Among these, methanol (specific energy =

6.1 kWh/kg) is the most attractive organic liquid.

DMFC(10-cell) stack Performance
7 Methanol flowrate= 100ml/min
60
CECRI has developed and demonstrated self-
Oxygen flowrate = 3 stoi 55

6
air flowrate = 3 stoi 50
Cell temperature = 700C
45
supported DMFC systems (Fig. 3). But SPE-DMFCs
5
40
Voltage(V)

Power(W)

4
35 suffer from methanol cross-over across the polymer
30
25
3
20
electrolyte membrane, which affects the cathode
2
Oxygen 15

1
Air 10 performance and hence the cell during its
5
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
0 operation. SPE-DMFCs also have inherent
Current(A)
limitations of low open-circuit potential and low
Fig. 3
electrochemical-activity.

An obvious solution to the aforesaid problems is to

explore other promising hydrogen-carrying liquid
fuels such as sodium borohydride (specific energy =
12 kWh/kg), which has a capacity of 5.67 Ah/g and
a hydrogen content of about 11 wt.%. CECRI has
recently developed and demonstrated a direct
borohydride fuel cell (DBFC) system with
hydrogen peroxide as oxidant (Fig. 4). A unique
feature of this system is that it can be operated at
Performance curve of 5 cell DBFC stack at ambient temperature

locations where free convection of air is limited.

40
8
Such a DBFC is attractive for submersible and space
30

applications.
Power (W)
Voltage (V)

20

fuel flowrate = 4ml/min.

4
oxidant flowrate = 60 ml/min
10

2 0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Current (A)

Fig. 4