Hydrogen Fuel Cells

In my last blog article, I discussed the differences between hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and electric vehicles. After reading that article, you may have been left wondering what a fuel cell is in the first place. In this article, I will clear that up for you and even look into other uses for hydrogen fuel cells.

How do fuel cells work

Hydrogen fuel cells work by producing energy with byproducts of water and heat from hydrogen fuel. The process that occurs in a fuel cell to produce energy is very similar to that which occurs during electrolysis when hydrogen is made, except the process is backwards. First hydrogen fuel is put in at the anode(negative electrode), while air enters into the fuel cell at the cathode(positive electrode). A reaction occurs at the anode which separates the hydrogen into protons and electrons. The electrons then generate electricity by traveling through an external circuit while the protons react with oxygen at the cathode to form water and heat (Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, n.d.). These fuel cells can be embedded in a variety of different devices for many different uses.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles

One use of hydrogen fuel cells is to power more environmentally friendly vehicles. While these fuel cells may not be the best option to power more sustainable cars, they could work to power planes, trains, and large trucks. This is because, unlike lithium batteries, where the size of the battery increases as the size of the vehicle increases, a larger fuel cell is not needed for larger vehicles (Sommer, 2022). This would allow these vehicles to be more light weight, which is especially important for airplanes. Additionally, since hydrogen fuel cell vehicles do not require one hour to be recharged, they would be more practical for commercial uses since companies would not want to have to wait for their vehicles to recharge before they can serve more customers.

Today, both Walmart and Amazon use hydrogen fuel cell forklift trucks made by Plug Power in their warehouses. According to Larry Rulison, a writer for Times Union, “under normal circumstances, forklifts powered by Plug Power fuel cells help to move 25 percent of the food and groceries consumed in the United States” (2020). While forklifts do not use the most fossil fuels, using hydrogen to power them still helps reduce our fossil fuel usage. Additionally,the fact that Walmart and Amazon have used hydrogen fuel cell vehicles

within their companies could help to popularize the usage of hydrogen fuel cells.

Future of Hydrogen Fuel Cells

More use cases for these hydrogen fuel cells are in the works. In 2006, one team of chemists at Arizona State University in Tempe developed a “fuel cell package” that included both the ability to produce hydrogen from borohydride and then convert it into energy using a fuel cell. This fuel cell package would not only be more environmentally sustainable, but would also extend battery life of many devices, such as computers or cameras (American Chemistry Society, 2006). In order to make these fuel cells available to consumers, however, some more things have to be done. For example, borohydride, the fuel for these fuel cell packages would have to become more widely available and less expensive. Overall, hydrogen fuel cells do have the potential to be used in many areas of our lives in the coming years if more research regarding them is done.

Sources

American Chemistry Society. (2006, September 14). Tiny Fuel Cell Might Replace Batteries In Laptop Computers, Portable Electronics. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 23, 2022, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/09/060913100455.htm

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. (n.d.). Why Study Fuel Cells. Department of Energy. Retrieved May 23, 2022, from https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/fuel-cells

Rulison, L. (2020, May 7). Plug Power plays huge role helping Amazon and Walmart supply America during COVID-19 crisis. Times Union. Retrieved May 23, 2022, from https://www.timesunion.com/business/article/Plug-Power-playing-huge-role-in-helping-Amazon-15254512.php

Sommer, F. (2022, January 6). What is green hydrogen vs. blue hydrogen and why it matters. CNBC. Retrieved May 22, 2022, from https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/06/what-is-green-hydrogen-vs-blue-hydrogen-and-why-it-matters.html