Fuel cell research and development and the pursuit of the technological panacea, 1940–2005

Abstract

This paper argues that dreams for a commercial fuel cell have gone consistently unrealized largely because expectations have consistently outpaced the knowledge base. Researchers and their supporters perceived the fuel cell as a hybrid of the conventional galvanic battery and the internal combustion engine, combining the advantages of both without their handicaps. In conventional storage batteries, the electrodes are also the "fuel", and are gradually consumed over time. In contrast, fuel cells use chemical reactants that are stored externally, not within the battery casing itself. Researchers assumed that as long as fuel was supplied, fuel cell electrodes and electrolyte would continue to operate with no chemical deterioration, a state known as "invariance".