Fuel Cell History
Fuel Cells - The First 120 Years
• In 1800, British scientists William Nicholson and
Anthony Carlisle had described the process of using
electricity to decompose water into hydrogen and
oxygen
• British judge and scientist, Sir William Robert Grove
in his experiments in 1839 on electrolysis - the use of
electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen led to the first mention of a device that would later be
termed the fuel cell
• Grove reasoned that it should be possible to reverse
the electrolysis process and generate electricity from
the reaction of oxygen with hydrogen
Grove’s Test
• He enclosed two platinum strips in separate sealed bottles, one
containing hydrogen and one oxygen.
• When these containers were immersed in dilute sulphuric acid
a current began to flow between the two electrodes and water
was formed in the gas bottles.
• In order to increase the voltage produced, Grove linked several
of these devices in series and produced what he referred to as
a ‘gas battery’.
• Due to many
scientific hurdles to
overcome if this
technology were to
be commercialized
and early interest in
Grove's invention
began to diminish.
By the end of the
century the advent
of the internal
combustion engine
and the widespread
exploitation of fossil
fuels meant that the
fuel cell was
relegated to the
status of a scientific
Sir William Grove (1811–1896)
• Fuel Cell was a term
coined in 1889 by
Ludwig Mond and
Charles Langer.
• They attempted to
build the first
practical device
using air and
industrial coal gas.
• An engineer, Dr. Francis Thomas
Bacon, at Cambridge University in
England, wrote the next major
chapter in the fuel cell story.
• Implemented a number of
modifications to the original
design.
– Replacing the platinum electrodes
with less expensive nickel gauze.
– Substituted the sulphuric acid
electrolyte for alkali potassium
hydroxide, a substance less
corrosive to the electrodes.
– This device, which he named the
"Bacon Cell," was in essence the
first alkaline fuel cell (AFC).
Dr. Francis Thomas Bacon,
(1904-1992)
Fuel Cells - The Next 40 Years
• The recent history of the fuel cell can be thought of as
beginning in the early 1960s.
• A new US government agency, the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA), was looking for a way to
power a series of upcoming manned space flights.
• NASA had already ruled out using
– batteries as they were too heavy
– solar energy as it was too expensive
– nuclear power as it was too risky
• This search led to the development of the first Proton
Exchange Membrane (PEM).
Cont..
• An oil embargo in 1973 kick-started renewed interest in fuel cell
power for terrestrial applications as governments looked to
reduce their dependence on petroleum imports.
• A number of companies and government organisations began to
undertake serious research into overcoming the obstacles to
widespread commercialisation of the fuel cell.
• Throughout the 1970s and 1980s a huge research effort was
dedicated to developing the materials needed, identifying the
optimum fuel source and drastically reducing the cost of this
exotic technology.
• Finally, in the 1990s, over 150 years after Grove's experiments,
the promise of inexpensive, clean, renewable energy began to
look as if it might become reality as the first viable fuel cells were
unveiled.
• In the last few years we have seen fuel cells installed in hospitals
and schools and many of the major automotive companies have
unveiled prototype fuel cell powered cars.
Fuel cell: Key notes….
•
Fuel cells started with Sir William Grove in 1839
•
The term 'fuel cell' was coined by the chemists Ludwig Mond and Charles
Langer in 1889 as they attempted to build the first practical device using air
and industrial coal gas
•
It was not too successful initially because not enough was known about
electricity
•
The first success was by Francis Bacon in 1932 (Alkaline fuel cell system with
porous electrodes)
•
In 1950s, fuel cells were used in the Apollo space programme
•
Reason for space use: Nuclear too dangerous, solar too bulky, batteries too
heavy
•
Fuel cells used in Apollo, Gemini and space shuttles
•
For fuel cell vehicles, General Motors developed a six-passenger Electrovan
in 1967, but only for use on company property due to safety reasons