Outlook for Fuel Batteries Development

Challenges and opportunities of thermal management issues related to fuel cell technology and modeling. Table provides a summary of fuel cell types. The acronym used to describe the fuel cell type refers to the type of electrolyte or proton (or ion) conductor used, with the exception of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs), where the type is identified by the fuel used. Although, the electrolyte used in DMFCs, in most cases, is the same kind of membrane used in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). PEMFC is commonly referred to the fuel cell that uses hydrogen or hydrogen-rich gas (i.e., production from hydrocarbon reformers) as fuel. The electrolyte is provided in the first column. Selected operating parameters appear in second column. The fuel listed is the crudest possible. Alkaline fuel cells, for example, require pure hydrogen, whereas the phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) can tolerate hydrogen-rich gas from a hydrocarbon reformer. In this concern, reformate typically contains some impurities, such as CO, which can poison some fuel cells.