Who invented the fuel cell

Sir William Grove

Sir William Grove is credited with the invention of the fuel cell in 1839. Grove observed that the gases produced in the electrolysis of water – hydrogen and oxygen – could generate a significant voltage and an electrical current when bubbled back into the electrolysis cell. However, the currents produced were very small.

The fuel cell remained a laboratory curiosity until the 1930's, when Francis Bacon recognized that the problem was the low solubility of hydrogen and oxygen in water. Bacon devised a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell in which the gases could be introduced to the electrodes through a gas diffusion layer (GDL). By using catalyzed electrodes (containing high surface area metal particles) and an alkaline electrolyte, he substantially improved the design of the fuel cell over the next 20 years. Fuel cells derived from Bacon's design flew on NASA space missions in the 1960's, but they required very clean (and therefore expensive) hydrogen because of the alkaline electrolyte. Fuel cells based on other electrolytes – particularly proton-conducting polymers, phosphoric acid, molten carbonates, and oxide ion-conducting solid oxides – are more tolerant of less expensive impure hydrogen and carbon-containing fuels.

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