The alkaline fuel cell (AFC), also known as the Bacon fuel cell after its British inventor, Francis Thomas Bacon, is one of the most developed fuel cell technologies. Alkaline fuel cells consume hydrogen and pure oxygen, to produce potable water, heat, and electricity. They are among the most efficient fuel cells, having the potential to reach 70%.
NASA has used alkaline fuel cells since the mid-1960s, in the Apollo-series missions and on the Space Shuttle.
A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requiring a continuous source of fuel and oxygen (usually from air) to sustain the chemical reaction, whereas in a battery the chemical energy usually comes from substances that are already present in the battery. Fuel cells can produce electricity continuously for as long as fuel and oxygen are supplied.
The first fuel cells were invented by Sir William Grove in 1838. The first commercial use of fuel cells came almost a century later following the invention of the hydrogen–oxygen fuel cell by Francis Thomas Bacon in 1932. The alkaline fuel cell, also known as the Bacon fuel cell after its inventor, has been used in NASA space programs since the mid-1960s to generate power for satellites and space capsules. Since then, fuel cells have been used in many other applications. Fuel cells are used for primary and backup power for commercial, industrial and residential buildings and in remote or inaccessible areas. They are also used to power fuel cell vehicles, including forklifts, automobiles, buses, trains, boats, motorcycles, and submarines.
Francis Thomas "Tom" Bacon OBE FREng FRS (21 December 1904 – 24 May 1992) was an English engineer who in 1932 developed the first practical hydrogen–oxygen fuel cell. It is used to generate power for space capsules and satellites.
Bacon was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II in the 1967 New Year Honours. In 1976, Bacon was a founder fellow of the Fellowship of Engineering (now the Royal Academy of Engineering), the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering.