In 1839, the first fuel cell was conceived by Sir William Robert Grove, a Welsh
judge, inventor and physicist. He mixed hydrogen and oxygen in the presence of
an electrolyte, and produced electricity and water. The invention, which later
became known as a fuel cell, didn't produce enough electricity to be useful.
In 1889, the term “fuel cell” was first coined by Ludwig Mond and Charles
Langer, who attempted to build a working fuel cell using air and industrial coal
gas. Another source states that it was William White Jaques who first coined the
term "fuel cell." Jaques was also the first researcher to use phosphoric acid in
the electrolyte bath.
In the 1920s, fuel cell research in Germany paved the way to the development of
the carbonate cycle and solid oxide fuel cells of today.
In 1932, engineer Francis T Bacon began his vital research into
fuels cells. Early cell designers used porous platinum electrodes and
sulfuric acid as the electrolyte bath. Using platinum was expansive and using
sulfuric acid was corrosive. Bacon improved on the expensive platinum catalysts
with a hydrogen and oxygen cell using a less corrosive alkaline electrolyte and
inexpensive nickel electrodes.
It took Bacon until 1959 to perfect his design, when he demonstrated a
five-kilowatt fuel cell that could power a welding machine. Francis T. Bacon, a
direct descendent of the other well known Francis Bacon, named his famous fuel
cell design the "Bacon Cell."
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