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Fuel Cell Comparison to Alternate Technologies

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Abstract

The actual energy demand and consumption issues make it necessary to critically discuss and compare different energy conversion and storage systems. At present, only one third of the primary energy is converted into end energy, for example, electrical energy. Losses are associated with a high consumption of fossil fuels and large CO2 emissions. They can be avoided by considering important electrochemical processes for energy conversion, using batteries, fuel cells, supercapacitors and electrochemical photovoltaics and by incorporating energy storage, employing rechargeable batteries, supercapacitors, generation of hydrogen via electrolysis, and generation of methanol.

This chapter was originally published as part of the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology edited by Robert A. Meyers. DOI:10.1007/978-1-4419-0851-3

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Abbreviations

Fuel cell:

A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that can convert the chemical energy stored in a given fuel into electrical energy.

Electrochemical capacitor:

An electrochemical capacitor (supercapacitor, ultracapacitor or double-layer capacitor) is an electrochemical device that can store and convert energy by charging/discharging the electrochemical double-layer of 2 electrodes with large surface areas and thus large double layer capacitances.

Battery:

A battery or Voltaic cell consists of one or more electrochemical cells which store and convert chemical energy into electric energy.

Ragone plot:

A Ragone Plot compares the performances of different energy storing devices by plotting power densities or specific power [W/kg] versus energy densities or specific energy [Wh/kg].

Electromobility:

Electromobility is a mobility concept in which electric vehicles instead of vehicles powered by internal combustion engines are used.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Lichtenbergstraße 2a, Garching, Germany

    Julia Kunze & Ulrich Stimming

  2. Department of Physics, Technische Universität München, James-Franck Str. 1, Garching, Germany

    Julia Kunze, Odysseas Paschos & Ulrich Stimming

Authors
  1. Julia Kunze
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  2. Odysseas Paschos
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  3. Ulrich Stimming
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julia Kunze .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Festkörperforschung, Max-Planck-Institut für, Heisenbergstr. 1, Stuttgart, 70569, Germany

    Klaus-Dieter Kreuer

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Kunze, J., Paschos, O., Stimming, U. (2013). Fuel Cell Comparison to Alternate Technologies. In: Kreuer, KD. (eds) Fuel Cells. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5785-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5785-5_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5784-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5785-5

  • eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)

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