Why are fuel cells more efficient at converting fossil fuel to electricity than conventional heat engines?
Fuel cells convert fossil fuel energy directly to electricity whereas heat engines first convert the chemical energy to thermal energy and then to mechanical energy and finally to electrical energy. Even though the fuel cell can only convert 50 to 60% of the fuel chemical energy to electricity this is considerably higher than the multi-step conversion process used by heat engines. The fuel cell because it does not use a thermal energy step is not subject to the Carnot Cycle limits that are imposed on heat engines.
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