Alkaline Fuel Cell with Solid Polymer Membrane

This is like a MEA of the Alkaline Fuel Cell with Solid Polymer Membrane (Anionic Membrane).
All materials used in this test are simple materials and largely available in the market.
I did not pay for any patent or purchase commercial membranes or catalysts.
Your resistance is hight, and doe's work in practical applications.
It's just for demonstration of the effect.
I hope you have enjoyed!
Thanks for watch.
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[@GreenCaulerpa]

Hello, Since I work on liquid fueled fuel cells myself, I am very interested in how you made the catalyst, I assume your cathode catalyst is some metal oxide, probably MnO2? But which catalyst would be suitable for oxidizing an ammonia solution at such low temperature if not some noble metals? Also I have been working on pva membranes since (even though I was sponsored an anion exchange membrane based on quaterized polystyrol) normal membranes are just way too expensive, I ended up with an organo-silicon crosslinked polymer network, this works absolutely great, in both very acidic (ph 0) and alkaline environment (ph 14) but I have a bit of a struggle, because the linear expansion is about 10-20% compared to its dry state, but the advantage is that it is highly flexible hydrogel.

[@danielrosselli]

Hi Andre, sorry I don't see you question before. On this occasion I was using pure activated charcoal with no catalyst. Yes, with MnO2 I think you could get better results. I don't use catalyst for ammonia too. Maybe palladium or even platinum give better results but the ideal is use low cost catalysts. Your membrane looks interesting. The expansion and fragile are a problem in some situations, but using a appropriate case you can get great results. I use a 3D printer to make good cases and gaskets to my projects. Have you try using some support material in your membranes?

[@GreenCaulerpa]

Daniel - Soware No actually I haven‘t tried a 3d printing support material as support. But might be worth a try. Also reduced graphene oxide is a very good mechanical support material. But actually no wonder you get a poor performance when you‘re not using a proper ORR (oxygen reduction reaction) catalyst. Of course activated carbon has some catalytic properties concerning that because of its high surface but not really good. As catalyst for the alkaline oxidation of ammonia I assume you use catalyst loaded activated carbon, right? Also pure ammonia as fuel won’t be really good since ammonia has a pKb of 4.75 which makes it a weak base and therefore it won’t fully protonate to NH4+ and form OH-. The formation of hydroxide ions is highly desirable because hydroxide ions can oxidize ammonia in aqueous solution in contrast to oxygen ions. So your overall reaction would be: Cathode: 2H2O + O2 + 4e- -> 4OH- (E0=+0.44V) Anode: 2NH3 + 6OH− →N2 + 6H2O + 6e− (E0=-0.77V)

[@mazmirzakhani4217]

@@danielrosselli Hi Daniel you are doing some great projects here...I can't find much info in youtube about Alkaline fuel cell. How efficient the fuel cell are? Thanks for sharing

[@howhow7053]

Hi @ Daniel Rosselli ...can the PVA separate hydrogen gas and oxygen gas after the reaction with the catalyst (platinum carbon) ?

[@danielrosselli]

Yes, this is one of the purposes of membranes in hydrogen fuel cells. They promote the reaction and also separate the gases. I will try to show a little more in future videos. You can create an electrolyser that separates the gases.

[@danielrosselli]

However, this cell is very old! I just did it because I wanted to see the effect of activated carbon on some liquids separated by a membrane

[@newageautotechnology]

Nice. Do you have a video of you making it ?

[@danielrosselli]

Hi, I did this a long time ago, today. Unfortunately at the time I only made this record. I use other better materials nowadays, but in fact it was one of the first ones I made at the time, it was just to test the response to ammonia absorption. In the future I may make a direct ammonia fuel cell to show the whole concept working.

[@newageautotechnology]

@danielrosselli Awesome. I build hho generators for cars and would really like to be able to split the two gasses

[@doha-vo4ru]

so if i have solid graphite and i want to be porous for my alkaline fuel cell ... how could i do this ?

[@danielrosselli]

Solid graphite is not so interesting because you need a material with high surface area. You can use vulcan XC-72, graphene or maybe activated carbon crushed in blender

[@valdecir2258]

parece se q não deu 1 V. deveria ter trocado a polarização. mais por um outro lado q tal abrir uma bateria de li íon. e colocar como célula. bateria q não vai usar mais. dia como ? em um pequeno saquinho lacrado do outro lado normal como fez. ou ate tbm de os dois lados. poderá obter 4 V . desmanche uma bateria de li íon

[@ballscrewpro]

can you share how to make the membrance, the type of material

[@kowshikhero8806]

ballscrewpro ya sir please

[@danielrosselli]

Yes, this membrane is not so efficient. Your base is PVA (Polyvinyl alcohol). I just made a test. I synthetised another with material more efficient.

[@jaimecadorniga1496]

Try nylon fabric

[@themisk.3843]

@Daniel Rosselli Hi sir what modifications i have to make in order to use hydrogen for fuel?

[@danielrosselli]

Hi, this cell is very old, I was doing a test on the carbon catalysis on ammonium. If you like to make a hydrogen fuel cell please watch my newest video about how to make a alkaline membrane. You can use that to make a MEA (membrane electrode assembly) and put the catalysts for hydrogen reaction. The classic catalyst is platinum on carbon support. You need to make a case that can allow hydrogen gases to enter and use gaskets to seal the cell. In alkaline cells you can use cheaper catalysts as well, but you would probably have to produce them yourself because it is harder to find to sell.

[@themisk.3843]

@@danielrosselli what other type of catalyst can i use?

[@roadblok6713]

@@danielrosselli can I use graphite foil as the catalyst. It is 2nd best to platinum.

[@hrajabi7261]

please do more content about anion exchange membranes

[@danielrosselli]

Ok, it's noted!

[@themisk.3843]

@Daniel Rosselli what type of catalyst do u use in this fuel cell?

[@danielrosselli]

This video is very old, and I didn't use catalysts. I used only ground and sieved activated carbon to make it very thin. And the funny thing is that even using only carbon, it showed a little catalytic activity.

[@themisk.3843]

@@danielrosselli how the electrodes are made? With activated carbon?

[@danielrosselli]

@@themisk.3843 Yes, in this video I used activated carbon. You need to grind it before and use a sieve.

[@valdecir2258]

claro lacrado pq vai na águas ok

[@kiranmr963]

Sir can you tell how to did that membrane plz I need procedure sir plz plz I need your help for my project work plz sir i beg you plz give me how you did that membrane plz ... plz ... waiting for your reply . 🙏

[@danielrosselli]

Hi, I made this from PVA, polyvinyl alcohol. It is water soluble and you need to make a "cross-link" to make a hydrogel PVA based. PVA is cheap and has larger industrial uses.

[@kiranmr963]

Daniel - Soware can you share the journal you referred .?

[@danielrosselli]

There many papers about PVA alkaline mebrane. Look this for example: www.lamav.ufba.br/pdf/FC16.pdf

[@danielrosselli]

The PVA membranes are very cheap compared to Nafion, and alkaline fuel cells can use catalysts more cheap than platinum too.

[@danielrosselli]

I made one using just PVA/PVP - KOH doped, and the performance was very good! There's a paper about this, but I don't remember where I find it

[@cityzen8539]

duh this is battery, not even fuel cell

[@danielrosselli]

Is a fuel cell. Battery has another principle.

[@sunlaser6587]

@@danielrosselli Where is the fuel then? Like Hydrogen, Methanol or Ethanol... . Haven't read of a fuel cell that uses dissolved ammonia and oxygen.

[@danielrosselli]

The fuel is ammonia. There is many types of fuel cells. For each type of fuel exist a correct catalyst and membrane.

[@sunlaser6587]

@@danielrosselli Thanks man, I love when I can learn something new. And what did you use for an electrode material?

[@danielrosselli]

electrode you can use steel mesh or nickel mesh, depending you catalyst support or corrosion problem.