Question

some fuel cells are powered by hydrogen. scientists are looking into the decomposition of water (h2o) to make hydrogen fuel with the help of the sun’s energy. what challenge do scientists face with this task?

Answer 1

Answer : First of all, to harness the solar energy and utilize it for the decomposition of water to make hydrogen fuel cell seems to be easy but practically it has many hurdles in its way. It might not work well, when the days would not be sunny. Also, the production of hydrogen fuel would require decomposing water which may need a high energy of activation, which would be more than the energy that will be produced from the fuel cell.

Answer 2

The challenge that scientists will face with this task is the production of hydrogen since hydrolysis or the decomposition of water (H2O) requires a certain amount of energy to be supplied. Scientists should look at how much is this energy supplied. It can be more than what would be produced from the fuel cells which will eventually result to a loss.