Hydrogen and the State of Art of Fuel Cells

Abstract

I present in this paper an overview of the main consolidated ways of using hydrogen as inexhaustible source of energy, focusing later on fuel cells technology. Production and storage of hydrogen affect its spread on large scale, so as the cost of required materials for realizing fuel cells. Hydrogen represents a very important direction for future; the constant growth of population, together with the decreasing availability of oil and people’s health, require a change of methods for the world energy production. These reasons encourage the development of renewable energy production systems and clean nanotechnology. Fuel cells are currently one of the best alternatives to common thermodynamic cycles of electricity production, one of the cleanest and most energy-efficient technologies for the direct conversion of chemical fuels in electricity. The main types, features, advantages and disadvantages of current fuel cells are considered and analyzed. It is presumable and desirable that a fast replacement of oil by hydrogen in the near future is realized for the good of the whole world.