Recent contributions in the development of fuel cell technologies

Fossil fuels are the dominant energy sources of our modern society and will undoubtedly be depleted in the near future. Global energy production is almost entirely associated with the use of highly contaminant fossil fuels, responsible for greenhouse emissions that contribute to climate change. In order to diminish the impact of human activities related to conventional energy production, we must transition to more environmentally friendly sources such as sustainable renewable energy (IPCC, 2012; EIA, 2016). However, the development of renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind, and geothermal is not without challenges; much work is needed to solve problems related to production, storage, and use. In combination, renewable systems could transform primary renewable energy into chemical energy like solar fuels or hydrogen as proposed by artificial photosynthesis (Listorti et al., 2009; Vlcek, 2012; Seh et al., 2017) to be later used for power generation in fuel cells, which have great potential for direct conversion of chemical energy into electricity. Such compound systems would effectively address some of the challenges that have hindered the transition of fossil to renewable energy and aid in environmental protection (Dunn et al., 2011; Shao, 2015).