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This booklet accompanies the Fuel Cells & Hydrogen Engineering
Masterclass delivered by Gavin D. J. Harper of the PURE Energy Centre
on behalf of The Royal Institution of Great Britain and the Royal
Academy of Engineering.

Some material in this booklet has been excerpted from Gavin’s book
“Fuel Cell Projects for the Evil Genius”.

© Gavin D. J. Harper 2008 – Free Photocopiable Resource

We use energy every day in our homes, vehicles and places of work. Increasingly, we
are aware of the impact that our energy usage has on the environment. With
increasing rates of vehicle ownership and usage, and continual growth of the use of
electricity globally our demand for energy is insatiable.

When we talk about ‘using’ energy, we do not really mean that we are ‘using it up’ :
this is impossible. The law of ‘Conservation of Energy’ states that energy cannot be
either ‘created or destroyed’; instead it is ‘converted from one form to another’.

When we are travelling in a car, the chemical energy stored in the hydrocarbon bonds
of our petrol or diesel vehicles, is converted to heat energy as the fuel burns. The
expansion that results from this release of heat energy, pushes a piston along a
cylinder – so the heat energy is converted to kinetic energy (motion). The linear
motion of the pistons is converted to rotary motion, and through the gearbox and
transmission, the car moves forward. The car uses hydrocarbon fuel, and produces
carbon dioxide and other emissions from burning this fuel.

In the home, when we use electricity, we are often unaware of the complex series of
energy‐conversion processes that take place in order to deliver this electricity to our
door. In a fossil fuel power station, fuel is burned to produce heat, which is in turn
used to produce steam. This steam is used to turn a turbine, which in turn is coupled
to a generator to produce electricity – which is then transmitted through a network of
cables to our homes, offices, factories, schools and anywhere else where we use
electrical power.

Thermal generation of power, comes with drawbacks – when we burn fossil fuels, we
produce vast amounts of carbon dioxide, and other emissions that come as a result of
burning fuel. Also a lot of heat is wasted up cooling towers.

In a nuclear power plant, the process of nuclear fission is used to produce heat instead
of burning fuel.With nuclear power, whilst no carbon dioxide emissions are produced
at the point of generation, we need fossil fuels to power the complex process of
nuclear fuel extraction and processing. In addition to this, nuclear power stations leave
a legacy of radioactive waste which we still have no permanent solution to.

Renewable energy, by contrast, produces no emissions or toxic wastes – it is clean and

always available for free. We can take renewable energy and produce hydrogen by a
process called ‘electrolysis’ allowing us to “store” energy. This is particularly helpful as
it means energy can be transported. Also renewable energy isn’t always “there” when
you want it as the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine. Storing
the energy can help us compensate for this intermittency.
The Fuel Cell is not a new concept. The 
first fuel cell was developed in 1845 by 
the Welsh scientist Sir William Robert 
Grove.

A fuel cell converts chemical energy to 
electrical energy using the process of 
catalysis.

Remember!
Catalysts are not used or consumed 
in a reaction – a catalyst increases 
the rate of a chemical reaction.  Diagram of Grove’s Original Fuel Cell

In a fuel cell, ‘platinum’ (which is very expensive) is used as a
catalyst  ‐ however, this makes fuel cells expensive to manufacture.
Scientists are trying to reduce the amount of platinum in fuel cells
and look for alternative materials that are less expensive.

In this ‘Engineering Masterclass’ we will be using a type of Fuel Cell called a 
‘Proton Exchange Membrane’ fuel cell, sometimes also known as a ‘Polymer 
Electrolyte Membrane’ fuel cell. This is one of a ‘family’ of different fuel cells.
PEM fuel cells operate at low temperatures and pressures.
A f…… c…… takes h………… and using a p……….. c………. the 
hydrogen atoms are split into p……….. and e………..

The p………… pass through the m……….. which is made of a 
special plastic called N………. . Meanwhile, the e……….. Flow 
around the circuit doing useful work.

At the other side of the membrane, the p…………, e………… 
and o………… combine to produce the only waste product of 
a fuel cell – pure w……. .
We can produce hydrogen from 
fossil fuels, using a process called 
steam reformation – however, 
this produces the greenhouse gas 
c………… d……….. as a by‐product.

A cleaner way to produce 
hydrogen is using a process called 
e………………… where electricity 
produced from r………………. 
energy sources, is used to split 
water into its elemental 
components h…………….. and 
o……………. .

In our fuel cell vehicle, energy conversion processes are 
taking place, transforming the hydrogen into movement of 
the vehicle. (Ignoring the flashing lights at the moment) –
the fuel cell converts “C” energy into “E” energy. The “E” 
energy travels through the wires to the motor, which 
converts “E” energy into “K” energy.

C…………… E ………… K…………..

ACROSS DOWN
1 Chemical symbol for Water 1 Lightest gas
6 Catalyst. 2  Chemical symbol for pure oxygen 
8 Energy that is clean and sustainable. molecule.
9 Chemical symbol for Carbon Dioxide 3  Electrochemical energy conversion 
11 A fuel cell combines this element  device
with hydrogen to make water. 4  A fuel cell's useful product (1)
12 ___ of Hydrogen is one of the  5 Fuel cell's emissions.
challenges that must be solved before  7  Plastic used in PEM membranes
hydrogen vehicles become a practical  10 A fuel cell's useful product (2) 
reality.
 http://www.howstuffworks.com/fuel‐cell.htm

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel‐cell‐quiz.htm

http://www.fuelcells.org/ced/education.html

http://www.fuelcells.org/ced/education.html#stud

http://www.hydrogensociety.net/Hydrogen%20for%20Kids.htm

http://www.kids4hydrogen.com/

http://www.lshc.co.uk/

http://www.lshc.co.uk/secondary/lessons_infosheets.asp

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/

http://www.shell.com/home/content/hydrogen‐en/faq/fuel_cell_1204.html

http://www.h2fcfuture.gc.ca/en/index‐e.html

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/ballard/651‐ballard‐shows‐how‐a‐fuel‐cell‐works‐video.htm

•Paperback: 196 pages 
•Publisher: McGraw‐Hill/TAB Electronics 
•Language: English 
•ISBN‐10: 0071496599 
•ISBN‐13: 978‐0071496599 
You can find more experiments with Fuel Cells, information about clean
energy  and information about how to take the learning in today’s 
masterclass forward in ‘Fuel Cells Projects for the Evil Genius’.