Hi! I've been wondering about this since i'm a bit confused when it comes to fuel cells.
As you can see protons (H+) can go through Electrolyte, but i'm very confused why electrons don't. According to Google, this is how fuel cells work:
But in general terms, hydrogen atoms enter a fuel cell at the anode where a chemical reaction strips them of their electrons. The hydrogen atoms are now "ionized," and carry a positive electrical charge. The negatively charged electrons provide the current through wires to do work.
This states that the hydrogen atoms becomes ionized (including electrons?) but aren't electrolytes "a liquid or gel which contains ions"? Though i'm not really sure if there are negative/positive ions in electrolyte.
This would mean that electrons would also be able to go through (as because they are ions).
Here's another statement at (http://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/2644/why-dont-the-electrons-move-through-the-electrolyte-instead-of-the-circuit-in) that " Electrons cannot survive in aqueous state". This would completely take off my conclusion of that electrons should be able to go through electrolyte (because they are ions).
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As the picture above suggests there are H+ in the electrolyte which i would suppose are protons (positively charge). Does that mean that the electrolyte is positively ionized?
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This may be alot of questions at once but i hope you can answer them.
Here's a couple of questions i still have in mind
- When a hydrogen atom gets separated. The hydrogen atom gets ionized. Does that mean both the proton AND the electron becomes ionized?
- How is an electron/proton ionized if the definition of an ion is "an atom or molecule with a net electric charge due to the loss or gain of one or more electrons."? It states that an ATOM that has less/more electrons than protons are ions.