(#98) Fuel Cells Cheat The Carnot Limit

Mechanical Engineering Made Simple · Feb 16, 2026 · 18m · transcript

This episode breaks down the thermodynamic principles and real-world engineering of fuel cells, explaining how they convert chemical energy directly into electricity without the Carnot limits that constrain traditional heat engines. Learn how Gibbs free energy defines the maximum electrical work output, how Faraday’s constant and reaction valency determine cell voltage, and why fuel cells maintain high efficiency even under part-load conditions. We walk through hydrogen-oxygen and hydrogen-chlorine systems, analyze how temperature and pressure affect electromotive force, and examine why…