Advantages and Disadvantages of Six Fuel Cells

Except the six fuel cells of PEMFC, AFC, PAFC, MCFC, SOFC and DMFC, there are microbial fuel cells and regenerative fuel cells. Microbial fuel cells are essentially systems that harvest electrons produced during microbial metabolism and direct electrons to produce electricity. In theory, microbial fuel cells are the most effective means of converting chemical energy into electrical energy, and the maximum efficiency is likely to be close to 100%. At present, researchers have made great progress in the design and improvement of microbial fuel cell design, but there are still many difficulties in realizing the conversion of technology from laboratory to industrial application. The regenerative fuel cell consists of an electrolytic cell and a fuel cell. When facing the sun, the solar energy is used to generate electricity and electrolyze water to generate hydrogen and oxygen for storage. When the sun is turned away, the fuel cell is used to generate electricity and generate water, which can be recycled and keep the energy storage basically constant. Regenerative fuel cells have high specific energy and specific power, and there is no self-discharge in use and no limitation on discharge depth and battery capacity. Developed countries such as the United States attach great importance to the research and development of regenerative fuel cell technology, and have applied regenerative fuel cell technology in thespecial field, and regard regenerative fuel cell technology as one of the important development directions of "space renewable energy technology" in the future, but There are still problems such as cost and further improvement in the stability of solar energy utilization.

Comparison of main features of six fuel cells

Fuel cells are one of the most critical technologies for the development of fuel cell electric vehicles. At the heart of the automotive fuel cell system is the fuel cell stack. The development trend of fuel cell stack technology can be judged by four factors: durability, low temperature start-up temperature, net output specific power and manufacturing cost. The main research hotspots of fuel cell systems include: using lightweight materials, optimizing the design, improving the specific power of the fuel cell system, improving the rapid cold start capability and dynamic response performance of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell system, and studying the fuel treatment with load following capability. Optimize the design of the battery or super capacitor and hydrogen storage, improve the efficiency and peak shaving ability of the system, and recover the braking energy.

Research on fuel cell stacks is currently working toward high performance, high efficiency and higher durability. The US Freedom CAR program requires that the fuel cell stack's durability exceed 5000h, can be started at -30 °C, 30s from start-up to output 50% rated power, net output specific power is 2.5kW / L, manufacturing cost is less than 30 US dollars /kW. Reducing costs is also the goal of fuel cell stack research. Effective means of controlling costs are reducing material costs for electrocatalysts, electrolyte membranes, bipolar plates, etc., and reducing processing costs for membrane electrode fabrication, bipolar plate processing, and system assembly. But how to balance the material price with the system performance requires constant research. Taking electrocatalyst as an example, the non-platinum catalyst system has potential in reducing cost, but its performance is far from meeting the requirements of the vehicle fuel cell system. Researchers have been working hard to reduce the amount of platinum used, but even with high loadings in the membrane electrode, such as Pt loading of 1mg / cm², its performance cannot meet the demand for vehicle power. Catalyst research should focus on how to more effectively use the active ingredients of the electrocatalyst to keep the active ingredient in a highly active state for a long time and prolong the service life of the catalyst.

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