Page 60 - Robots Androids and Animatrons : 12 Incredible Projects You Can Build

Fuels cells have many applications. Just about anything that uses
batteries will benefit from fuel cell technology. A few applications
already in the works are an aluminum/air fuel cell to be used for
cellular phones and a fuel cell for laptop computers. Fuel cells offer
extended run times and improved performance.
If not now, when?
With all the wonderful attributes of fuel cells, where are they? Why
don’t we find fuel cells in our laptop computers, video cameras, and
cell phones? While fuel cell technology has improved over the last
decade, fuel cells still are not competitive (read cost-effective)
with existing technologies.
One of the more advanced fuel cell designs uses a proton exchange
membrane (PEM) electrode material from DuPont called Nafion. The
PEM raw material costs approximately $100 per square foot. Reducing

Load
- + 39

H O
2
H K +
O
O
H 2
H 2 H OH - Air or
Hydrogen OH - O oxygen
K +
H O
Anode Electrolyte Cathode

H
Deplete fuel & K + O Deplete
product gases H OH -
H O O oxident
(water) 2 +
H K O
H O
2
At the anode At the cathode
-
-
2H + 4 OH 4H O + 4e - O + 2H O + 4e 4 OH -
2
2
2
2
3.10 Alkali electrolyte [potassium hydroxide (KOH)] fuel cell
Team LRN Power