Stanley Meyer claimed to have invented the water fuel cell in the late 20th century in Grove City, Ohio, USA. Meyer showcased his invention publicly and believed it could revolutionize the energy industry by using water as a clean and abundant fuel source. However, the scientific community widely discredited his claims due to a lack of evidence and failed to replicate his technology.
Gibbs free energy is the thermodynamic state function that measures the maximum electrical work that can be obtained from a fuel cell at constant temperature and pressure. It represents the balance between the system's enthalpy, entropy, and temperature.
Yeast cells can be used in alternative fuel production through the process of fermentation, where they break down sugars to produce ethanol. This ethanol can be used as a biofuel in vehicles, reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional gasoline. Yeast cells are efficient at converting sugars to ethanol, making them a valuable tool in the production of alternative fuels.
The word equation for the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen in a fuel cell is "hydrogen + oxygen → water." The corresponding symbol equation is 2H2 + O2 → 2H2O.
In a fuel cell, oxygen is typically obtained from the air through intake vents, while hydrogen can be supplied either through storage tanks or through a reformer that converts other fuels into hydrogen. These two gases then react in the fuel cell to produce electricity, water, and heat as byproducts.
Algae can be used to produce hydrogen gas through a process called photobiological water splitting. This involves growing algae in a photobioreactor, where they use photosynthesis to convert water into oxygen and hydrogen gas. The hydrogen gas produced can then be collected and used as a renewable energy source in fuel cells.
Hydrogen fuel cells work by converting the chemical energy stored in hydrogen gas into electrical energy through electrochemical reactions. Hydrogen is fed into the anode of the fuel cell, where it is split into protons and electrons. The protons move through an electrolyte while the electrons flow through an external circuit, generating electricity. The protons and electrons recombine at the cathode with oxygen from the air to form water, the only byproduct of the process.
The two gases used to produce electricity in fuel cells are hydrogen (H2) as the fuel and oxygen (O2) as the oxidant. In a fuel cell, hydrogen is fed to the anode (negative electrode) and oxygen is supplied to the cathode (positive electrode), where they react to produce water, heat, and electricity through an electrochemical process called the oxidation-reduction reaction.
The main fuel source for the work of the cell is the mitochondria.