A Historical Perspective of Fuel Cell Technology in the 20th Century

Abstract

In honor of the 100th anniversary of The Electrochemical Society, a retrospective look at the development of fuel cell technology over the past 100 years is presented. The development of fuel cells can be traced back over 160 years to Sir William Grove’s invention in 1839. The history of these very early years have been described elsewhere.1-3 Additionally, comprehensive technical reviews of fuel cell technology are also available (see, for example, Ref. 4 and 5),as well as recent review articles on the latest developments.6,7 There- fore, this paper will emphasize the progress on fuel cells that has been presented in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES) and other ECS publications throughout the Society’s first 100 years. This historical review includes all the major types of fuel cells, which are named according to the electrolyte employed in the cells: the alkaline fuel cell (AFC), the polymer-electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC), the phosphoric-acid fuel cell (PAFC), the molten-carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), and the solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC). We will review the significant advances that have occurred and how these developments have been influenced by external factors. Research groups that have made substantial contributions to these developments and the fuel cell literature in ECS publications will be given special emphasis.