Comparison between Lead Acid Batteries and Fuel Cell Lead-Acid batteries was invented by French physicist Gaston

Plante in 1958. Although these batteries are low voltage but they are designed to provide high surge currents, normally to the car or vehicle engine to start. The power to weight ratio of these cars is very high to provide the tremendous amount of switch-on surge currents.

This battery has the following specifications: Self Discharge rate: Cycle Durability: 3% - 20 % per month 500- 9cycles

Nominal Cell Voltage: 2.105 V

In the charged state, each cell contains electrodes of elemental lead (Pb) and lead oxide (PbO2) in an 33.5 v/v Sulfuric acid (H2SO4) electrolyte. After the charge of the battery is drained out the electrodes converted into lead sulfate (PbSO4) and the electrolyte loses its dissolved sulfuric acid and becomes primarily water. During discharge, both plates return to lead sulfate. The process is driven by the conduction of electrons from the cathode back into the cell at the anode.

The following chemical reaction occurs during the discharge state of the battery: On each electrode during discharge the follwoing chemical reaction occurs: Negative Electrode: Positive Electrode: During charging, the electrolysis process produces oxygen and hydrogen as by products: Positive Electrode: Negative Electrode: So during charging the water is decomposed into its constituents.

Fuel Cell Working Principle In principle, a fuel cell operates like a battery. Unlike a battery, a fuel cell does not run down or require recharging. It will produce energy in the form of electricity and heat as long as fuel is supplied. A fuel cell consists of two electrodes sandwiched around an electrolyte. Oxygen passes over one electrode and hydrogen over the other, generating electricity, water and heat.

Hydrogen fuel is fed into the "anode" of the fuel cell. Oxygen (or air) enters the fuel cell through the cathode. Encouraged by a catalyst, the hydrogen atom splits into a proton and an electron, which take different paths to the cathode. The proton passes through the electrolyte. The electrons create a separate current that can be utilized before they return to the cathode, to be reunited with the hydrogen and oxygen in a molecule of water. Costs. In 2002, typical fuel cell systems were projected to cost US$100 per kilowatt of electric power output, assuming high-volume production of contemporary designs A 2011 published study documented the first metal-free electrocatalyst using relatively inexpensive doped carbon nanotubes that are less than 1% the cost of platinum and are of equal or superior performance

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell http://www.fctec.com/fctec_basics.asp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93acid_battery http://www.fuelcells.org/basics/how.html