Fuel Cell

A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel, often hydrogen, and an oxidizing agent, often oxygen, directly into electricity, requiring a continuous external supply of fuel and oxidant rather than storing energy internally the way a battery does. The English scientist William Grove built the first fuel cells in 1838, and the technology was developed into a practical stationary power source by Francis Thomas Bacon, who built a five-kilowatt alkaline fuel cell in 1932. Bacon's design became commercially important when NASA adopted it from the mid-1960s to power satellites and spacecraft, moving the fuel cell from laboratory curiosity to practical application.