Fuel cells are expected to play a major role in the future power supply that will transform to renewable, decentralized and fluctuating primary energies. At the same time the share of electric power will continually increase at the expense of thermal and mechanical energy not just in transportation, but also in households. Hydrogen as a perfect fuel for fuel cells and an outstanding and efficient means of bulk storage for renewable energy will spearhead this development together with fuel cells. Moreover, small fuel cells hold great potential for portable devices such as gadgets and medical applications such as pacemakers.
This handbook will explore specific fuel cells within and beyond the mainstream development and focuses on materials and production processes for both SOFC and lowtemperature fuel cells, analytics and diagnostics for fuel cells, modeling and simulation as well as balance of plant design and components. As fuel cells are getting increasingly sophisticated and industrially developed the issues of quality assurance and methodology of development are included in this handbook. The contributions to this book come from an international panel of experts from academia, industry, institutions and government.
This handbook is oriented toward people looking for detailed information on specific fuel cell types, their materials, production processes, modeling and analytics. Overview information on the contrary on mainstream fuel cells and applications are provided in the book 'Hydrogen and Fuel Cells', published in 2010.
About the Author
Prof. Detlef Stolten is the Director of the Institute of Energy Research - Fuel Cells at the Research Center Julich, Germany. Prof Stolten received his doctorate from the University of Technology at Clausthal, Germany. He served many years as a Research Scientist in the laboratories of Robert Bosch and Daimler Benz/Dornier. Since 1998 he has been holding the position of Director at the Research Center Julich. Two years later he became Professor for Fuel Cell Technology at the University of Technology (RWTH) at Aachen. Prof. Stolten's research focuses on electrochemical energy engineering including electrochemistry and energy process engineering of Electrolysis, SOFC and PEFC systems, i.e. cell and stack technology, process and systems engineering as well as systems analysis. Prof. Stolten is Chairman of the Implementing Agreement Advanced Fuel Cells, member of the board of the International Association of Hydrogen Energy (IAHE) and is on the advisory boards of the German National Organization of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells (NOW), and the journal Fuel Cells. He was chairman of the World Hydrogen Energy Conference 2010 (WHEC 2010).
Dr. Bernd Emonts is the Deputy Director of the Institute of Energy Research at the Julich Research Center, Germany. He received his diploma in structural engineering from the Aachen University of Applied Sciences, Germany, in 1981. He went on to specialize in the fundamentals of mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen University, Germany and was awarded his PhD in 1989. Working as a scientist, Dr. Emonts has been involved in extensive research and development projects in the areas of catalytic combustion and energy systems with low-temperature fuel cells. Between 1991 and 1994, he concurrently worked as an R & D advisor for a German industrial enterprise in the drying and coating technologies sector. In addition to his scientific activities at Julich Research Center, Germany, Dr. Emonts lectured at Aachen University of Applied Sciences from 1999 to 2008. Dr. Emonts has published extensively in the field of Fuel Cells.
