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  4. In a hydrogen - oxygen fuel cell, combustion of hydrogen occurs to :

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Q. In a hydrogen - oxygen fuel cell, combustion of hydrogen occurs to :

VITEEEVITEEE 2019

Solution:

Explanation:
In a Hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell, the oxygen is reduced at the cathode and the hydrogen is oxidized at the anode.

Adding these two reactions leads to the combustion reaction of hydrogen, which generates tremendous heat.
The direct combustion of hydrogen is uncontrollable, but via an electrochemical cell, this can be controlled to some extent.
$H _{2} \rightarrow 2 H ^{+}+2 e ^{-}$(at anode).
$O _{2}+2 H _{2} O +4 e ^{-} \rightarrow 4 OH ^{-}$(at cathode)
$2 H _{2}+ O _{2} \rightarrow 2 H _{2} O$ ( Overall )