Fuel Cells

Fuel Cells

Fuel cells use hydrogen and oxygen, the molecules that create water, to produce electricity with no pollution. First conceived in 1839, fuel cells are silent electron factories with no moving parts and no combustion. Since that time, companies around the world have been developing and refining the technology as a means of replacing traditional battery and generator technologies and to help address some of the world's most difficult energy and environmental challenges

Today, IdaTech is one of a number of companies in the world with commercially available fuel cell products.

How do fuel cells work?

Fuel cells have two adjacent chambers—the anode side and the cathode side—separated by a membrane. Hydrogen gas enters the anode side where the atoms react with a platinum catalyst and release electrons. That chamber becomes flooded with free electrons and hydrogen protons, or hydrogen atoms stripped of their electrons.

The positively charged hydrogen protons pass through the membrane into the cathode side of the fuel cell. The electrons flow out of the anode side to power a load. After running through the system wiring, the electrons re-enter the fuel cell on the cathode side, completing the electrical path.

On the cathode side, the hydrogen protons that slipped through the membrane combine with the free electrons and with oxygen molecules to produce pure water.

You can envision a fuel cell as a system that borrows electrons from hydrogen, ships them off to do some useful work, such as running household appliances, and then grabs them back and partners them with oxygen to form water. The chemical equation is about as simple as it gets: 2H2 + O2 = 2H2O.

There are a handful of different types of fuel cells, distinguished primarily by the kind of membranes they use. IdaTech uses PEM—proton exchange membrane—fuel cells.

Because fuel cells do not have moving parts and do not rely on combustion, they are easy to maintain and efficient.