St.

Mary’s Convent
Sr. Sec. School

2019 - 20
Chemistry Project
Eco Friendly Hydrogen Fuel Cell

SUBMMITED BY SUBMMITED TO
Prakhar Patel Mrs. Kiran
Class :- 12th ‘A’ Raghuvanshi

Date Of Submission:-14/6/2019

1|Page
 CERTIFICATE
This hereby to certify that the original and genuine
investigation work has been carried out to
investigate about the subject matter and the
related data collection and the investigation has
been completed solely sincerely and satisfactorily
by Prakhar Patel of class 12th ‘A’, St. Mary’s
Convent Sr. Sec. School , Dewas regarding the
project titled-
“Eco Friendly Hydrogen Fuel Cell”

TEACHERS SIGNATURE PRINCIPAL SIGNATURE

STUDENT SIGNATURE EXAMINER SIGNATURE

SCHOOL STAMP

2|Page
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am grateful to the Almighty for giving me the
strength to complete this project successfully.
I am obliged to SR. NISHA our principal for
providing us the best facalities and environment
in the school.
I naturally could not have done justice to my
delicate assignment and had not been privileged
to get the guidance from my chemistry teacher
Mrs. Kiran Raghuvanshi. Also I would thank
Mrs. Subria Xaxa for her willingness in providing
us with necessary lab equipments.
I cannot forget to offer my sincere thanks to my
Parents without whose blessings and prompt
support my efforts would have been in vain.

Prakhar Patel
12th A

3|Page
 CONTENTS
 Certificate
 Acknowledgement
 Introduction
 History
 Material Required
 Construction
 Working
 Observations
 Result
 Advantages
 Applications
 Bibliography

4|Page
 INTRODUCTION

A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts

the chemical energy of a fuel and an oxidizing
agent into electricity through a pair of redox
reactions. Fuel cells can produce electricity
continuously for as long as fuel and oxygen are
supplied.
It is used as a fuel source as well as a source of
drinking water.
Fuel cells are used for primary and backup power
for commercial, industrial and residential
buildings and in remote or inaccessible areas.

5|Page
 HISTORY
The first fuel cells were invented in 1838. The first commercial
use of fuel cells came more than a century later in NASA space
programs to generate power for satellites and space capsules.
Since then, fuel cells have been used in many other
applications.

In a letter dated October 1838 but published in the December

1838 edition of The London and Edinburgh Philosophical
Magazine and Journal of Science, Welsh physicist and barrister
William Grove wrote about the development of his first crude
fuel cells.

In a letter to the same publication written in December 1838

but published in June 1839, German physicist Christian
Friedrich Schönbein discussed the first crude fuel cell that he
had invented.

Another GE chemist, Leonard Niedrach, devised a way of

depositing platinum onto the membrane, which served as
catalyst for the necessary hydrogen oxidation and oxygen
reduction reactions. This was the first commercial use of a
fuel cell.

In 1991, the first hydrogen fuel cell automobile was

developed by Roger Billings

6|Page
 MATERIAL REQUIRED
 Platinum wire or platinum
 coated nickel wire
 Thin metal rod (nail , nut pick )

 A small wooden or plastic dowel
 or popsicle stick
  9-volt battery
  9-volt battery clip
  Transparent tape
 Salt (optional)

 Voltmeter (or flashing bulb
 or LED)
 Glass of water

7|Page
 CONSTRUCTION
Gather all of the necessary materials. A 9-volt
battery and battery clip can be purchased from an
electronics shop.

Cut two 6-inch (15-centimeter) strips of

platinum or platinum-coated wire. You will need
to purchase this wire from an electronics supply
store, as platinum isn't used for common wiring
purposes. The platinum serves as the catalyst for
this reaction.

Wind each wire strip around a thin metal rod to

shape it into a spring. These two springs will
serve as the fuel cell's electrodes. Take the end of
the wire and wrap it tightly around your shaping
rod to form a coil. Remove the first wire from the
shaping rod and wrap the second wire.

Cut the leads from a 9-volt battery clip in

half. Using a wire cutter, snip both of the wires
attached to the clip in half and strip the
insulation off the leads. This will leave bare
wires that you can attach to your electrode coils

8|Page
Attach the exposed wire ends to the electrode
coils. Attaching the wire leads to the electrodes
allows you to hook up your power source (the
battery via the battery clip) and the voltmeter for
reading how much electricity the fuel cell is
producing.

Tape the electrodes to a Popsicle stick or dowel

rod. The Popsicle stick needs to be longer than the
mouth of the container holding the water so it can
rest on top. Tape the electrodes so that they hang
down, away from the stick and can be easily
submerged into the water.

Fill the glass with tap water or salt water. In

order to get a good reaction, the water solution
needs electrolytes.
Regular tap water has impurities in it such as
minerals that can serve as electrolytes if you don’t
have any salt handy. Add a tablespoon of salt or
baking soda for each cup of water. Stir until fully
dissolved.

Lay the stick over the mouth of a glass of

water. The coil electrodes should be submerged in
the water for most of their length, except where
they're connected to the wires from the battery clip.
Only the platinum should be submerged.

9|Page
Connect the wires coming from the electrodes to
a voltmeter or LED bulb. The voltmeter is to
show electric current created by the fuel cell once
it's activated. Connect the red wire to the meter's
positive terminal and the black wire to the negative
terminal. You may see a small amount of voltage at
this point, such as 0.01 volts, although the
voltmeter should read zero at this point.
You can also connect a small bulb.

10 | P a g e
 HOW DOES IT WORK
The reaction between hydrogen and oxygen can be
used to generate electricity via a fuel cell.

The working of this fuel cell involved the passing of

hydrogen and oxygen into a concentrated solution of
sodium hydroxide via carbon electrode.

11 | P a g e
The cell reaction can be written as follows :-
Cathode Reaction: O2 + 2H2O + 4e– → 4OH–
Anode Reaction: 2H2 + 4OH– → 4H2O + 4e–
Net Cell Reaction: 2H2 + O2 → 2H2O
However, the reaction rate of this electrochemical
reaction is quite low. This issue is overcome with the
help of a catalyst such as platinum or palladium. In order
to increase the effective surface area, the catalyst is
finely divided before being incorporated into the
electrodes.
A block diagram of this fuel cell is provided below :-

12 | P a g e
The efficiency of the fuel cell described above in the
generation of electricity generally approximates to 70%
whereas thermal power plants have an efficiency of
40%.

The PEM fuel cell uses hydrogen fuel and oxygen from
the air and gives off water as product. The theoretically
maximum voltage that can be produced from the fuel
cell is 1.23V. However it is impossible to achieve
because of internal resistance diffusion losses and
voltage losses manifested as heat.
To define the efficiency of a fuel cell the 2nd law of
effeciency is used that relates the power produced in a
fuel cell to the maximum theoretical power produced by
oxidizing the same amount of hydrogen.
% effeciency = (power out/max. power)*100
The maximum voltage is 1.23V. Thus the
effeciency is approximately 50% - 55%.

13 | P a g e
 OBSERVATIONS

S.NO INITIAL FINAL TOTAL

READING READING READING
1.

2.

3.

RESULT
The Hydrogen fuel cell is ready and
can be used in any of the appliances.

14 | P a g e
ACTIVATING THE FUEL CELL

 Touch the 9-volt battery terminals to the battery clip for one to two
seconds. The battery is needed only to send an initial current
through the wire to cause the hydrogen in the water molecules
touching the electrodes to separate from the oxygen, forming
bubbles around the electrodes. This process is called electrolysis.
Notice the bubbles forming around each electrode. One electrode
has bubbles of hydrogen, while the other electrode has oxygen
bubbles. The battery source does not need to be completely
attached the clip, just touched to the battery terminals to begin the
reaction.

 Remove the battery. The battery is only needed to initiate the

reaction. The separated hydrogen and oxygen will recombine into
water, releasing the energy originally used to split them as
electricity. The platinum in the electrode coils serves as a catalyst to
speed the recombination of the hydrogen and oxygen into water
molecules.

 Read the output on the voltmeter. Initially, the output may be as

great as two volts, but will decline as the hydrogen bubbles dissipate,
quickly at first and then gradually as the last of the bubbles pop. A
light bulb or LED may appear bright initially, but will quickly dim and
then gradually fade away.

15 | P a g e
 ADVANTAGES

1. Carbon-emission Free

Advocates for the use of hydrogen fuel cells posit that unlike other
sources of power, these fuel cells do not emit harmful carbon emissions
in the air that cause pollution and affect global warming. The chemical
reaction between hydrogen and water does not produce pollution but
instead, releases electricity to be used in various applications.

2. Accessible and Clean

One of the advantages of using hydrogen as an energy source is its being

readily available. And although it might take time to break down the
compounds and separate them, it’s being plentiful and easily accessible
make up for the time it takes to complete the process.

16 | P a g e
3. Importance in Science and Technology

Hydrogen fuel cells have many applications and are being used by
industries, machinery, motorcycles, automobiles and NASA. Hydrogen
fuel is used to launch space shuttles, making it a significant factor in
science and technology. In fact, NASA has been using hydrogen gas for
decades and had used fuel cells as an alternative energy source along
other fuel cell types such as methane and hydrogen peroxide.

4. Renewable Energy Source

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. Consequently,

it becomes one of the renewable sources of energy like solar energy
coming from the sun. Unlike limited energy sources like fossil fuels and
nuclear energy reserves, energy coming from hydrogen becomes a very
practical and significant alternative energy.

5. Fuel Efficiency

Due to the fact that hydrogen is capable of producing more energy per
pound of fuel as compared to gas and diesel, it becomes more fuel
efficient. Cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells can run more miles than
automobiles that run using gas and solar-powered vehicles. When it
comes to combustion technologies, plants that are powered by
conventional combustion methods only produce about 33 to 35 percent
of energy. Conversely, when hydrogen fuel cells are used in
manufacturing plants, electricity produced can reach up to 65 percent.
Moreover, fuel consumption is cut down to 50% with the use of fuel cells.
This is because cars using hydrogen cells only use 40% to 60% of the
energy generated by the fuel as well as operate quietly and less moving
parts.

17 | P a g e
 APPLICATIONS
Power
Stationary fuel cells are used for commercial, industrial and
residential primary and backup power generation. Fuel cells
are very useful as power sources in remote locations, such as
spacecraft, remote weather stations, large parks,
communications centers, rural locations including research
stations, and in certain military applications.

Cogeneration
Combined heat and power (CHP) fuel cell systems,
including Micro combined heat and power (MicroCHP)
systems are used to generate both electricity and heat
for homes (see home fuel cell), office building and
factories. The system generates constant electric
power (selling excess power back to the grid when it is
not consumed), and at the same time produces hot air
and water from the waste heat.

18 | P a g e
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ideas to make this project have been
taken from following sources-
BOOKS REFFERED:-
NCERT
PRADEEPS
INTERNET SOURCES:-
WWW.GOOGLE.COM
WWW.WIKIPEDIA.COM
WWW.FUELCELLTODAY.COM

19 | P a g e