ABSTRACT
Alkaline fuel cells (AFCs) were among the first fuel cells to have been studied and developed for practical applications, and in fact, AFCs are the first and the only type of cells to have reached successful routine applications, mainly in space explorations such as space shuttle missions in the United States. Because of this splendid space application, the largest number of fuel cell development programs in the world, particularly in Europe, once had been initiated to bring the AFCs from space application to terrestrial commercial applications and unfortunately almost all the AFC development programs have ended, mainly due to the so-called CO2 syndrome described later in this chapter. Current R&D activities in AFCs are fairly limited.
