Domestic Fuel Cell Technology
Domestic Fuel Cell technology is still in its infancy, but promises within a decade to completely revolutionise the way households are heated and supplied with electricity.
3) Domestic Fuel Cell
How does the fuel cell work?
Source: Ceres Power Ltd
Unlike a battery, a fuel cell does not store energy, but convert chemical energy to electrical energy - i.e. the fuel is not burned.
On the anode side is fuel (for example hydrogen gas) and on the cathode side is oxygen (in air). Between the anode and cathode is the very thin, electrically insulating but ion conducting layer.
An electrical circuit connects the anode to the cathode and provides the mechanism to power electrical devices.
- The technology
What type of fuel can be utilised?
What about greenhouse gases?
Early in the development, pure hydrogen was considered the primary fuel.
However, a new type of fuel cell has recently emerged, which is powered by natural gas.
When hydrogen is utilised as a fuel, only electricity, heat and water is produced, making it a very environmentally friendly way of generating electricity.
Oxygen on the cathode side being ionised at the cathode and generating negatively charged oxygen ions that then flow through the cathode and across the insulating layer.
At the anode side the oxygen ion combines with a positively charged hydrogen ion and releases an electron.
The electron flows around the electrical circuit to the cathode side generating a reliable and direct DC current.
