A Direct Hydrocarbon/Air Fuel Cell

Abstract

A CONSIDERABLE amount of effort is being expended at present to develop fuel cells capable of burning hydrocarbons directly and efficiently to carbon dioxide and water. Most of the work so far has been confined to temperatures below 100° C using sulphuric acid as the electrolyte and platinum metals as the catalytic surface. Under these conditions it has been possible to demonstrate current densities of up to 10 or 20 m.amp/cm² at very low cell voltages, leaving in considerable doubt the feasibility of making efficient working devices.