| Author | Message | ||
     Joey-Z. Unregistered guest |
Hello, I am interested in making the hydrogen fuel cell discribed on this site, but I have a few questions. Is there any other metal that will act as a catylist instead of Platinum? Also is you used more of the wire so you have more surface area, would you produce more power? Lastly, what is the current produced by the fuel cell, I am assuming it is less than one milliAmp. You can't light a LED with this can you? I would greatly appreciate it if you could answer my question. thanks, Joey Z. | ||
| Simon Quellen Field (Sfield) Senior Member Username: Sfield Post Number: 583 Registered: 12-2004 |
Rhodium and Paladium are sometimes used, but Platinum is best. A very distant fourth is Nickel. More surface area means more current. You can get low current LEDs, but a digital clock might be the best thing to try powering. | ||
| Gary Garic (Bc_gray) New member Username: Bc_gray Post Number: 1 Registered: 2-2006 |
I have some question's with regards to the Hydrogen fuel cell experiment. I constructed one as per your instructions, and the experiment worked as written. I then constructed your "Hydrogen Bomb" experiment and low and behold it had a stronger hydrolysis voltage than the Platinum/Nickel wire "Fuel Cell" when the power was removed. It read 2 volts for about fifteen minutes, where as the Platinum/Nickel only held the two volts for about a minute and dropped quickly to just one volt, till the wires were tapped to release the bubbles, and the voltage dropped completly. (Side Note:- our water in Central British Columbia/Canada is slightly Akaline 7.4 on the PH scale). I notice that the negative cathode which produces the Hydrogen, has a fine stream of considerable bubbles. My guess is that this has a valid explaination, is it due to the light atomic weight of Hydrogen and it's two parts???? Lastly if the experiment runs for a couple of days is the water slowly converted to Hydrogen peroxide???? Thanks for a great site | ||
| Simon Quellen Field (Sfield) Senior Member Username: Sfield Post Number: 1064 Registered: 12-2004 |
What were you using for electrodes in the second experiment? Twice as much hydrogen by volume is produced as oxygen. Oxygen dissolves in water better than hydrogen. You should see more bubbles from the hydrogen electrode. That is not how hydrogen peroxide is made. | ||
| Gary Garic (Bc_gray) New member Username: Bc_gray Post Number: 2 Registered: 2-2006 |
In the second Experiment "Hyrogen Bomb" I was using Carbon rods from my air arc cutter, They are proported to be "clean" Carbon rods. They should have not had any associated "Battery" residue. UPDATE:- I left the second experiment (Carbon Rod/Hydrogen Bomb) to run for ten hours using a variable supply DC power supply (I wanted to show that Hydrogen production increased as the voltage increased). I tested the water prior to starting with a simply Aquarium PH tester, and the water was 7.4 at start, and below 6.0 (the lowest the kit reads) after ten hours. This leads me to postulate that we are creating an acid, through electrolysis? The Negative Carbon electrode appeared "Etched" and the Positive Carbon electrode was coated with a milky smooth coating, so again I postulate that the "Alkaly" in the water must have migrated with the electrons to the Positive terminal? After posting my prior post,I realize that my writting hand was not connected to the thinking process, as you clearly state the resulting solution could not be "Hydrogen Peroxide"!!! It is however acidic so could it be "Hydrogen Dioxide"?? As the hydrogen molecules are being stripped off?? I am still curiuos as to why the Platinum/Nickel wire electrolysis cell produces less voltage than the Carbon rod one. Five tests later, the results are the same. Apply 12 volts to the Platinum/Nickel wire for twenty seconds, and the same to the Carbon rods. The Platinum/Nickel votage quickly drops to two volts, then proceeds to gradually drop continuely from there down to about one volt until you tap the wire to remove the bubbles, were the voltage drops to zero. the Carbon rods drop to two vots and stays there for over ten minutes????? I Thank-You again for the great site and you courteous and prompt response to my simple questions | ||
| Simon Quellen Field (Sfield) Senior Member Username: Sfield Post Number: 1067 Registered: 12-2004 |
The acidity is most likely carbon dioxide. You have oxygen being produced on a carbon rod. Your rods have some impurity that is acting as a catalyst, most likely nickel. It is not a very good catalyst, but you have a thousand times the surface area as the platinum wire, and that explains why it works, and why you are getting the long persistence -- you have more bubbles to use as fuel, so it lasts longer. |
