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Claim: Hydrogen powered cars for the masses one step closer to reality
WUWT ^ | 8/20/17 | Anthony Watts

Posted on 11/20/2017 11:04:13 AM PST by Signalman

UCLA researchers have designed a device that can use solar energy to inexpensively and efficiently create and store energy, which could be used to power electronic devices, and to create hydrogen fuel for eco-friendly cars.

The device could make hydrogen cars affordable for many more consumers because it produces hydrogen using nickel, iron and cobalt — elements that are much more abundant and less expensive than the platinum and other precious metals that are currently used to produce hydrogen fuel.

“Hydrogen is a great fuel for vehicles: It is the cleanest fuel known, it’s cheap and it puts no pollutants into the air — just water,” said Richard Kaner, the study’s senior author and a UCLA distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and of materials science and engineering. “And this could dramatically lower the cost of hydrogen cars.”

The technology, described in a paper in the journal Energy Storage Materials, could be especially useful in rural areas, or to military units serving in remote locations.

“People need fuel to run their vehicles and electricity to run their devices,” Kaner said. “Now you can make both electricity and fuel with a single device.”

It could also be part of a solution for large cities that need ways to store surplus electricity from their electrical grids.

“If you could convert electricity to hydrogen, you could store it indefinitely,” said Kaner, who also is a member of UCLA’s California NanoSystems Institute.

Traditional hydrogen fuel cells and supercapacitors have two electrodes: one positive and one negative. The device developed at UCLA has a third electrode that acts as both a supercapacitor, which stores energy, and as a device for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, a process called water electrolysis. All three electrodes connect to a single solar cell that serves as the device’s power source, and the electrical energy harvested by the solar cell can be stored in one of two ways: electrochemically in the supercapacitor or chemically as hydrogen.

The device also is a step forward because it produces hydrogen fuel in an environmentally friendly way. Currently, about 95 percent of hydrogen production worldwide comes from converting fossil fuels such as natural gas into hydrogen — a process that releases large quantities of carbon dioxide into the air, said Maher El-Kady, a UCLA postdoctoral researcher and a co-author of the research.

“Hydrogen energy is not ‘green’ unless it is produced from renewable sources,” El-Kady said. He added that using solar cells and abundantly available elements to split water into hydrogen and oxygen has enormous potential for reducing the cost of hydrogen production and that the approach could eventually replace the current method, which relies on fossil fuels.

Combining a supercapacitor and the water-splitting technology into a single unit, Kaner said, is an advance similar to the first time a phone, web browser and camera were combined on a smartphone. The new technology may eventually lead to new applications that even the researchers haven’t considered yet, Kaner said.

The researchers designed the electrodes at the nanoscale — thousands of times thinner than the thickness of a human hair — to ensure the greatest surface area would be exposed to water, which increases the amount of hydrogen the device can produce and also stores more charge in the supercapacitor. Although the device the researchers made would fit in the palm of your hand, Kaner said it would be possible to make larger versions because the components are inexpensive.

“For hydrogen cars to be widely used, there remains a need for a technology that safely stores large quantities of hydrogen at normal pressure and temperature, instead of the pressurized cylinders that are currently in use,” said Mir Mousavi, a co-author of the paper and a professor of chemistry at Iran’s Tarbiat Modares University.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: coalisking; cobalt; elonmusk; fisker; hydrogen; hydrogencars; iron; maherelkady; nickel; nonsense; notafuel; raygorte; solarcity; tesla; ucla
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1 posted on 11/20/2017 11:04:14 AM PST by Signalman
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To: Signalman

It is the cleanest fuel known, it’s cheap...


Blatant lie at the start is not good.

Hydrogen is not cheap. It is quite expensive. Expensive to produced, expensive to store.

I wish it were cheap, but it is not.


2 posted on 11/20/2017 11:06:34 AM PST by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: marktwain

And let’s talk about DANGEROUS.
That’s what makes it expensive.

Hydrogen goes bang.


3 posted on 11/20/2017 11:10:03 AM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: Signalman

The Hindenburg was filled with hydrogen because it was cheap, had better lift and was available to the Nazis rather than our helium which was restricted.

I don’t know how big the conversion plant and reservoir on a hydrogen powered car would be, but I doubt anything could go wrong. Go wrong...Go wrong...Go wrong.

Personally I’m working on a wind-powered car. it will have hundreds of miniature windmills Scotch-taped to the roof.


4 posted on 11/20/2017 11:10:34 AM PST by wildbill (If you check behind the shower curtain for a slasher, and find one.... what's your plan?)
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To: Mariner

“Hydrogen goes bang.”
Perfect fuel then for democratmobiles and NFL members.


5 posted on 11/20/2017 11:11:02 AM PST by Da Coyote
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To: Red Badger

Ping.


6 posted on 11/20/2017 11:11:20 AM PST by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: marktwain

Bearing in mind that many of these so-called “breakthrough technologies” end up proving to be pipe dreams, if this specific path proves valid it would be a major earthquake in the realm of energy production.


7 posted on 11/20/2017 11:12:11 AM PST by Spacetrucker (George Washington didn't use his freedom of speech to defeat the British - HE SHOT THEM .. WITH GUNS)
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To: marktwain

Also, the article says it produces “no pollutants”, only water into the air.

Isn’t water vapor a greenhouse gas?


8 posted on 11/20/2017 11:12:37 AM PST by Signalman
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To: Signalman

Also, the article says it produces “no pollutants”, only water into the air.

Isn’t water vapor a greenhouse gas?


So is CO2. It should not be called a pollutant either.

Combine Hydrogen with carbon, and it becomes easy to store, transport, and use.


9 posted on 11/20/2017 11:14:33 AM PST by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: marktwain

The idea of Hydrogen powered vehicles has been around for quite some time, and I believe there are already several options on the market. Electric cars are the ones receiving massive subsidies so its impossible to tell whether hydrogen technology will ever get a real foothold in the market.


10 posted on 11/20/2017 11:20:55 AM PST by littleharbour
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To: Signalman

How well would Hydrogen work in freezing climates where it was stored outside?


11 posted on 11/20/2017 11:21:46 AM PST by Revel
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To: marktwain

Once we get that free energy thingy working, we can use it to make almost free hydrogen. /sarc


12 posted on 11/20/2017 11:26:07 AM PST by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: Mariner
Hydrogen goes bang.

So does gasoline..................

13 posted on 11/20/2017 11:27:30 AM PST by Red Badger (Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
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To: Signalman

What a load of bull. CNG is already here already cheap.


14 posted on 11/20/2017 11:28:03 AM PST by RKBA Democrat (Christianity and politics don't mix.)
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To: marktwain

The second line tells why is might be less costly.


15 posted on 11/20/2017 11:32:14 AM PST by odawg
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To: marktwain

Hydrogen is also bulky unless you can store at cryogenic temperatures.
I so wish we could use it.


16 posted on 11/20/2017 11:32:39 AM PST by Little Ray (Freedom Before Security!)
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To: Signalman

Replace carbon dioxide with water vapor and global warming will be man made and imho severe.


17 posted on 11/20/2017 11:35:35 AM PST by enduserindy ( I always smile when my competition doubles down on stupid.)
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To: marktwain

At what pressure will they store H2? It is able to blister metal containers and, because of its small size, there are very few materials able to contain it. Hydrogen fires are very hard to detect and very dangerous because of the invisible flame. Ask any refinery operator who works in the Reformer unit.


18 posted on 11/20/2017 11:37:23 AM PST by 353FMG
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To: Signalman
They'll wait for the first hydrogen car to explode and then make one of helium.
19 posted on 11/20/2017 11:40:32 AM PST by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
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To: Red Badger

Big bang if you pour some into a barrel with leaves in it and toss a match from about 3 feet away....


20 posted on 11/20/2017 11:42:21 AM PST by b4its2late (A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own.)
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