Reversible fuel cell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A reversible fuel cell (RFC) is a fuel cell that is designed to consume chemical A to produce electricity and chemical B and be reversed to consume electricity and chemical B to produce chemical A. A hydrogen fuel cell, for example, uses hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) to produce electricity and water (H2O); a reversible hydrogen fuel cell could also use electricity and water to produce hydrogen and oxygen.
By definition, the process of any fuel cell could be reversed. However, a given device is usually optimized for operating in one mode and may not be built in such a way that it can be operated backwards. Fuel cells operated backwards generally do not make very efficient systems. Because of this, fuel cells operated in forward-reverse mode are not suited for energy storage systems in small and medium scale. Most fuel cells operated in the reverse mode are sold as learning kits or curiosities.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Lead acid battery efficiency reference
- Reversible fuel cell learning kit.
- Example US Patents: 4048383 , 4338167 etc.
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