It would seem logical that increasing the concentration of sodium borohydride would increase the production of hydrogen, and make a better-performing fuel cell system. However, Gervasio says, "there's a hidden problem" with this scenario. One of the byproducts of the hydrolysis reaction is boron oxide, a compound that, doesn't dissolve readily in water. So when the concentration of sodium borohydride increases, so does the concentration of the solid boron oxide, which "gums up" the pumping system, limiting how much sodium borohydride can be used, says Gervasio. To address this problem, Gervasio and his team tested solvents that dissolve boron oxide. They found that by adding ethylene glycol to the boron hydride solution, they could use a concentration of sodium borohydride 50 percent stronger than one without ethylene glycol in the solution--increasing the amount of hydrogen that can be stored and liberated--without producing the unwanted clumps of boron oxide. The difference, says Gervasio, is a fuel cell system that can power a device roughly twice as long as a battery of the same size and weight. Ethylene glycol is useful not only for its ability to dissolve boron oxide, but also for managing the temperature of water in the fuel cell, Gervasio adds. Ethylene glycol reduces the freezing point and increases the boiling point of water in fuel cells, just as it does in the antifreeze of a car's cooling system. A reduced freezing point keeps the water in the sodium borohydride solution from turning to ice on a cold day, while an increased boiling point could keep the system running smoother at higher temperatures. Indeed, managing heat is one aspect of fuel cell technology that engineers must consider when designing efficient fuel cells, says Jack Brouwer, associate director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California, Irvine. And he feels that the Arizona State research is "really interesting work in that regard." John Battaglini, vice president of sales, marketing, and product management for Millennium Cell, says his company has taken similar approaches in its fuel cell development; and adds that he's "happy to see more people looking at sodium borohydride," and expects it to lead to other advances down the line. Right now, Gervasio's team is looking at different types of alcohol additives that dissolve boron oxide as well as or better than ethylene glycol. He estimates that it could be about five years before his system is incorporated into a consumer laptop. But the ball is rolling: he's filed for a number of patents on the technology and is in talks with device makers about his recent advances. "I have a lot of hope for this," he says. |
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More-Powerful Fuel Cells
05/22/2008
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Comments
rhogan1 on 09/29/2006 at 12:14 AM
3
talon1973 on 10/16/2006 at 5:55 PM
1
I'm currenty doing research and development for Water for Fuel LLC. I have built several fuel cells now and currently working on converting an old Dodge Ram V8 engine to run off H+H+O produced via splitting water. I'm currently working on development of pulsed DC to operate large cells on current 12v power source used in current vehicles.
As for my second job, I'm Sony certified feild technician mostly working with Projections, LCDs, DLP and Plasma display technology. All sets that uses the energy compliance technology uses switch mode power supplies that converts AC to DC, then modulates DC at a much higher frequency then household outlets provides. This modulated DC is now converted to high frequency AC and converted once again to DC. This time, when a device requires more current, the DC modulater will adjust frequency accordingly to allow circuits to draw what it needs without having heavy current drainage from household AC.
I'm basically using similar techniques in splitting water for fuel without overloading any vehicles 12volt charging system. It's been a long tough road and countless hours on designing, expirmenting, research and development of these electronics for this purpose.
I truly beleive that we all must come together and start converting fossil energy sources to much cleaner, healther, longer lasting and if possible, total renewal sources of energy. All of us have this technology practically in the palms of our hands. I beleive with proper education and with great human collectiveness, we can slowly start making this shift now without harming our oil boys profits by getting them to shift to other forms of cleaner sources of energy.
I'm happy to see new batteries and fuel cells ariving to the hands of our people in this nation and around the world in hopes that our grand kids have all new ways of powering their lives without all the destruction and health problems we experience today.
Great review on the laptop batteries and I wish you all the luck in the world in developing this new technology.
Jason Swedenskey