H2 and Fuel Cell Technology
A fuel cell uses hydrogen and oxygen to create electricity by an electro-chemical process. A single fuel cell consists of an electrolyte sandwiched between an anode and a cathode. There are different types of fuel cells, the Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells operate in the following way:
| Hydrogen is fed to the anode where a catalyst separates the negatively-charged electrons in the hydrogen from the positively-charged protons |
| Protons move through the membrane to the cathode |
| The electrons from the anode side of the cells cannot pass through the membrane to the positively-charged cathode. They travel via an electrical circuit to reach the other side of the cell. This process produces the electrical current. |
| At the cathode, oxygen from the air combines with electrons and protons to produce water and heat. |
| To generate enough power to drive the bus, the many individual fuel cells are connected to each other and built up into “stacks”. |
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