Fuel Cells and Their Applications - Taschenbuch

Karl Kordesch, Gunter Simader Fuel Cells and Their Applications This unique book concerning fuel cells and their applications fills the gap which currently exists between the theoretical aspects and the detailed practical data available. It describes a technology dating from the early experiments of the 1850s and classical studies of electrochemical systems in the early 1900s predicting that a direct conversion of chemical energy into electricity using fuel cells would be far more efficient at lower temperatures than with combustion processes. The importance of fuel cells for energy saving is explained and evaluated and the extremely low pollution characteristics of dispersed fuel cells are emphasised. Their wide-ranging applications in homes, small factories and power plants, and in some industries for the highly efficient conversion of waste and biomass materials, with the general effect of carbon dioxide reduction in all fossil-fuel-burning processes, are discussed. Their uniques uses, for example in high technology spacecrafts and in the development of affordable electric cars, are also detailed. Readers at all levels including chemists, physicists, chemical engineers, battery technologists and students will appreciate this comprehensive overview and find the clarity of numerous graphs and tables highly valuable.