Next Article Search the ORNL Review Site Comment on this article Through materials and technology developments, ORNL researchers are finding ways to improve fuel cells for powering buildings and cars.
Fuel sells if it is cheap, clean, and carbon-free.
That may become a maxim of this millennium and an argument in favor of fuel cells. These devices may be used to produce electricity in homes and cars using oxygen from air and hydrogen from natural gas. Their chief waste product is harmless water vapor. The hydrogen atoms break apart into positively charged ions and electrons. Oxygen from the air or carbon monoxide is collected at the cathode where the gas accepts electrons to form negatively charged oxygen ions, which are passed through a YSZ electrolyte separating the anode and cathode.