Fuel Cells

Sodium acetate can be used as a carbon source in microbial fuel cells to provide a substrate for microbial growth and electron transfer. The acetate is metabolized by the microbes, generating electrons that can be transferred to an electrode to produce electricity. Sodium acetate can therefore enhance the performance and efficiency of microbial fuel cells.

Hydrogen is the most commonly used element in fuel cells. It acts as the fuel source that reacts with oxygen to produce electricity, with water and heat as byproducts.

In a fuel cell, when hydrogen gas is supplied to the anode, the hydrogen molecules are split into protons and electrons. The electrons travel through an external circuit to the cathode, creating an electric current. At the cathode, oxygen molecules combine with protons and electrons to form water. So, electrons play a key role in generating electricity in a fuel cell.

Hydrogen fuel cells produce electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen in an electrochemical process. When hydrogen is fed into the anode and oxygen into the cathode, a chemical reaction occurs, producing electricity, water, and heat as byproducts. This clean and efficient process makes hydrogen fuel cells a promising technology for powering vehicles and other applications.

water vapor, which makes it a clean and environmentally friendly power source.

The fuel cell will generate about 1 gallon of waste water. The reaction of hydrogen combining with oxygen in the fuel cell produces water as a byproduct. Since the hydrogen generated from electrolyzing 1 gallon of water would similarly combine with oxygen in the fuel cell to produce water, the amount of waste water will be approximately equal to the original volume of water electrolyzed.

When an organism respires it produces electrons which are normally passed to a terminal electron acceptor. For many organisms this is oxygen. In environments where there is no oxygen, such as in sediments and in soils, organisms use different terminal electron acceptors. Common alternatives are Nitrate and Sulphate but some bacteria are known to use solid compounds as a terminal electron acceptor. There are some species of bacteria that can use iron as a terminal electron acceptor.

The ability of some bacteria to reduce (that means give electrons to) iron in sediments is exploited in Microbial Fuel Cells. The microbes (bacteria) reduce an electrode (called the anode) by using it as a terminal electron acceptor as they metabolise (eat) high energy compounds such as sugars. By linking the anode to another electrode (called the cathode) you can make a circuit that electrons can flow through. Just imagine it like a battery, the anode is the negative terminal and the cathode is the positive terminal and the electrons come from the sugar, pass through the bacteria (giving it energy on the way) and are then passed to the anode.

The only byproduct of fuel cells is water. When hydrogen is used as fuel, it reacts with oxygen in the air to produce electricity, heat, and water vapor as the only emission.

The waste byproducts of hydrogen fuel cells are heat and water vapor. When hydrogen is converted into electricity in a fuel cell through a chemical reaction with oxygen, these are the only emissions produced, making fuel cells a clean and efficient energy source.

The waste byproducts of hydrogen fuel cells are typically heat and water vapor. As the hydrogen gas is converted into electricity, the only emission produced is water, making fuel cells a clean energy source.

In a fuel cell, hydrogen gas is typically fed to the anode where it is split into protons and electrons through a process called electrolysis. The proton passes through a membrane to the cathode, while the electrons are forced to flow through an external circuit, creating an electrical current. At the cathode, the protons, electrons, and oxygen from the air combine to produce water as the only byproduct.

Hydrogen gas typically combines with oxygen in fuel cells to produce water, in a process that generates electricity.

A hydrogen combustion engine is like the engine in your car. Hydrogen and oxygen enter a combustion chamber, ignite, and form a ball of hot vapour (steam) which moves a piston that rotates a crankshaft. Alternately a hydrogen combustion engine could be a rocket or jet engine where the burning fuel exhausts the combustion chamber as vapour (steam again) and impacts a forward motion to the engine by the mass discharge.

A fuel hydrogen cell is more like a battery. Hydrogen and oxygen react in a catalyst matrix that allows the process to continue at a fixed rate. Like most chemical reactions this involves the movement of electrons to create positive and negative reactant ions. The flow of electrons is conducted to an electrical system as power. Water is still the byproduct.

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.

oxygen and hydrogen makes electricity and water

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.

Anyone can do it, but the problem is doing it efficiently enough so that it competes with the price of Oil.


1. Grow some algae in a vat using photosynthesis to turn CO2 and sunlight into sugar.

2. Dump out the algae into a filter, collect the sugars.

3. Feed the sugar to a rat in a cage. The rat turns a crank, producing electricity.

4. Have the electricity run through water, separating the oxygen from the hydrogen.

5. Collect up the Hydrogen and put it in the fuel cell.


The only problem is that the amount of energy we need to roll back INTO the process of making the energy is so large that this process won't compete with oil.

How to do it efficiently? Well get your top geneticists on the ball at editing the DNA code to get the algae to produce hydrogen instead of sugar. It can be done. It's just very hard.

This guy Chris Martenson talks about the problem:

http://www.chrismartenson.com/crashcourse

The hydrogen fuel cell operates similar to a battery. It has two electrodes, an anode and a cathode, separated by a membrane. Oxygen passes over one electrode and hydrogen over the other.The hydrogen reacts to a catalyst on the electrode anode that converts the hydrogen gas into negatively charged electrons (e-) and positively charged ions.The electrons flow out of the cell to be used as electrical energy. The hydrogen ions move through the electrolyte membrane to the cathode electrode where they combine with oxygen and the electrons to produce water. Unlike batteries, fuel cells never run out. In principle, a fuel cell operates like a battery. Unlike a battery, a fuel cell does not run down or require recharging. It will produce energy in the form of electricity and heat as long as fuel is supplied.

Appropriately injected graphene (and boron nitride hBN) can allow energetics to get through it, offering the potential for using graphene layers as a barrier that blocks liquid atoms. They could even be used to gather hydro energy out of the atmosphere that could power electric generators with ambient space.

The membranes are more effective at elevated temperatures and when covered with nanoparticles.

Graphene could solve a major problem for fuel cells: fuel intersection for efficiency and durability.

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.