Stainless steel replaces platinum to produce hydrogen

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://live.psu.edu/story/38214

Stainless steel replaces platinum to produce hydrogen

Friday, March 13, 2009

University Park, Pa. -- Platinum is highly desired in jewelry and as a catalyst, but in both cases it is expensive. Now, Penn State researchers have found a way to replace the platinum catalyst in their hydrogen generating microbial electrolysis cells with stainless steel brushes without losing efficiency.

"Stainless steel brush cathodes can produce hydrogen at rates and efficiencies similar to those we have achieved with platinum-catalyzed carbon cloth," says Bruce E. Logan, Kappe professor of environmental engineering.

The brushes used were made of 304 stainless steel, had a twisted stainless steel core and were manufactured on an industrial brush manufacturing machine. At an inch in length and an inch in diameter, the brushes had 48 square inches of surface area.

In order to produce hydrogen from microbial electrolysis cells that use organic materials, a small amount of electrical energy is needed. While the electrolysis cells will produce more energy than required to force the reaction, without the added energy they will not produce hydrogen. The researchers, who also include Douglas F. Call, graduate student in environmental engineering and Matthew D. Merrill, postdoctoral researcher in environmental engineering, also found that the stainless steel brush cathode needed to be placed very close to the graphite fiber brush anode for optimum effect.

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[aquart]

1. Wow.

[billyoc]

2. That's good news, I never took hydrogen seriously because it required platinum.

You know how rare that shit is? :rofl:

[Hoopla Phil]

3. This is exactly the kind of Tech "jump" we need to make alternative cars viable.

Really great news.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. Platinum seems to be replaceable at both ends

In this case, the alternative (carbon nanotubes replacing platinum in fuel cells) seems to work even better.

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/22074/
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/02/06/carbon-nanotubes-could-replace-platinum-and-lead-to-affordable-hydrogen-cars/

[garybeck]

5. "a small amount of energy is needed."

the use of hydrogen will ALWAYS require energy input. That's because hydrogen is not an energy source, it is an energy storage.

when you split water (H20) into H and O, in requires energy input. There's no two ways about it.

Hydrogen is a great way to store energy. Once you split that water, and you have hydrogen, it is potential energy that can be burned in a combustion engine, or turned back into electricity with a fuel cell. While it is hydrogen, it can be transported and stored fairly easy (compared to batteries), and it does not pollute when it is burned or turned back into electricity. All that is good.

But we still come back to how are we going to get the hydrogen from H20 (or any other place it exists). Electrolysis requires energy input. So we still have to look to renewables like solar and wind before we can start seeing hydrogen as a part of the solution.

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. I think most on this board understand that

(even if the general population does not.)

[wtmusic]

7. H2 is exceedingly cumbersome to store and transport

because it requires compression to 700-800 bar (roughly 10,000 psi), or refrigeration to close to absolute zero to liquify it. The volumetric energy density of gaseous hydrogen is miniscule compared to batteries.

It's also extremely explosive, and therefore IMO an awful way to store energy - unless you have 10,000 service stations with nothing to sell when their gasoline runs out.