A fuel cell is a type of battery which converts chemical energy into electrical energy. Its invention goes back more than 150 years, yet its potential is just being realized in the space age. Within a few weeks of Alessandro Volta's invention of his...

Fuel cells convert chemical energy to electrical energy by combining hydrogen from fuel with oxygen from the air. Hydrogen fuel can be supplied in two ways—either directly as pure hydrogen gas or through a "fuel reformer" that...

A device for converting the chemical energy of hydrogen to electricity. By-products are water and heat. Of environmental significance is zero emission of carbon dioxide, sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides. Fuel cells are considered promising in...

A fuel cell is equivalent to a generator: it converts a fuel's chemical energy directly into electricity. The main difference between these energy conversion devices is that the fuel cell acccomplishes this directly, without the two additional...

A fuel cell is an electrochemical energy conversion device. It produces electricity from various external quantities of fuel (on the anode side) and oxidant (on the cathode side). These react in the presence of an electrolyte. Generally, the reactants...

Fuel cell technology is on the threshold of widespread commercialization. Although fuel cells would appear to be a new technology, Sir William Grove first theorized about the process of reacting hydrogen and oxygen together to produce electricity in 1839. Since the 1960s, NASA...

Most carmakers are officially "fuel neutral," but all players agree that the momentum has shifted to methanol. DaimlerChrysler says the fuel cell vehicles it promises to roll out in 2004 will run on methanol. Chris Borroni-Bird, senior manager/technology, says the company is starting...

Fujitsu wanted clean energy at its Sunnyvale, Calif., site. But unlike some tech firms going the green route, including nearby Google GOOG, Fujitsu didn't go with solar or wind power. It chose ... fuel cells.A stationary fuel cell system, Fujitsu says, is more dependable than...

Nissan Motor Co. announced plans Monday to launch a next-generation fuel cell vehicle in the early 2010s in Japan and North America as part of its mid-term environmental strategy.Nissan Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga said at a Tokyo press conference outlining the company's "Nissan Green...