Solar supercapacitor creates electricity and hydrogen fuel on the cheap

[Swordsmyth]

The UCLA device is a hybrid unit that combines a supercapacitor with a hydrogen fuel cell, and runs the whole shebang on solar power. Along with the usual positive and negative electrodes, the device has a third electrode that can either store energy electrically or use it to split water into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen atoms – a process called water electrolysis.

And it helps that the UCLA device uses materials like nickel, iron and cobalt, which are much more abundant than the precious metals like platinum that are currently used to produce hydrogen. "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," says Kaner. "And this could dramatically lower the cost of hydrogen cars."

As an added bonus, the supercapacitor part of the system can chemically store the harvested solar energy as hydrogen. Doing so could help bolster energy storage for the grid.


More at: https://newatlas.com/solar-hydrogen-...-device/52329/

[fisharmor]

Right.

So skipping right by the fact that there's a bunch of other crap in water that makes electrolysis a nontrivial matter for anything but already distilled water...
...let's focus a bit on what happens with the H2 after it has been separated.

I'm afraid it has to get compressed in order to be usable.

So after you tack on the cost of tens of thousands of dollars in tank filling equipment,
and then do the mandatory state checks on that equipment,
and then get the licensing and training to be able to do the tank inspections which are required for every fill,
how exactly is this more economical than gasoline?

The utter stupidity of these eco pipe dreamer never fails to amaze me.
Even if they figured out how to run cars of used coffee grounds and het a thousand miles a gallon, if the SUM of the tech that enables that costs a million dollars, then it is a non starter.

[Swordsmyth]

Right.

So skipping right by the fact that there's a bunch of other crap in water that makes electrolysis a nontrivial matter for anything but already distilled water...
...let's focus a bit on what happens with the H2 after it has been separated.

I'm afraid it has to get compressed in order to be usable.

So after you tack on the cost of tens of thousands of dollars in tank filling equipment,
and then do the mandatory state checks on that equipment,
and then get the licensing and training to be able to do the tank inspections which are required for every fill,
how exactly is this more economical than gasoline?

The utter stupidity of these eco pipe dreamer never fails to amaze me.
Even if they figured out how to run cars of used coffee grounds and het a thousand miles a gallon, if the SUM of the tech that enables that costs a million dollars, then it is a non starter.

I agree, I just like to keep track of the technology, every once in awhile some of it comes to fruition and is useful for something.

[Brian4Liberty]

What is this magical "supercapacitor"?

[Swordsmyth]

What is this magical "supercapacitor"?

Supercapacitor
A supercapacitor is a high-capacity capacitor with capacitance values much higher than other capacitors that bridge the gap between electrolytic capacitors and rechargeable batteries.More at Wikipedia

[Brian4Liberty]

Supercapacitor
A supercapacitor is a high-capacity capacitor with capacitance values much higher than other capacitors that bridge the gap between electrolytic capacitors and rechargeable batteries.More at Wikipedia

Ah, I have not kept up with the terminology. I was thinking of lossless super-conductor capacitors, which have not been successfully created, AFAIK.

[Peace Piper]

So skipping right by the fact that there's a bunch of other crap in water that makes electrolysis a nontrivial matter for anything but already distilled water....

Salt Water Fuel Cell Demo. Apparently you are unaware of this tech. What other things RE: H2 fuel cells are you unaware of?

...let's focus a bit on what happens with the H2 after it has been separated. I'm afraid it has to get compressed in order to be usable.

Electrochemical compressors have been developed- no moving parts.



No moving parts!
0.1 – 1000 kg/d
1000 bar in one stage
http://hyet.nl/hydrogen/

First gen electrochemical compression:

So after you tack on the cost of tens of thousands of dollars in tank filling equipment,
and then do the mandatory state checks on that equipment,
and then get the licensing and training to be able to do the tank inspections which are required for every fill,
how exactly is this more economical than gasoline?

What a pathetic display of "Can't Do". Among many other things, the fact that all hydrogen can be produced domestically and without refineries makes hydrogen far far more economical- and sensible- than gasoline. You should be forced to pay a price for gas that includes the Military Industrial Complex costs. Then you might get an idea of the real price of gasoline. Your parent's generation could go to the moon a decade after the plans were announced, that's quite an accomplishment. Your generation seems unable to do anything but watch while your despicable government steals your money to bomb wedding parties 8,000 miles away. You and your fellow "can't doers" should be ashamed of yourselves.

The utter stupidity of these eco pipe dreamer never fails to amaze me.
Even if they figured out how to run cars of used coffee grounds and het a thousand miles a gallon, if the SUM of the tech that enables that costs a million dollars, then it is a non starter.

You don't know the first thing about today's hydrogen industry, yet you fancy yourself as some kind of expert. It's hilarious. Fortunately no one cares what you think about H2. Sit back and ignore the biggest thing to happen to energy in our lifetimes. The industry is better off without the likes of you anywhere around. Look the other way while China takes this tech and runs with it, which is exactly what they are doing while a bunch of ignorant Americans say it can't be done.

[fisharmor]

If any of these things were economically viable, we would all already know about them.

Salt Water Fuel Cell Demo.

So what happens to all the algae, plankton, and octopus $#@! in the salt water? Does that get turned into H2 as well?
Or are you showing me a demo with lab equipment and starting with the distilled water I was talking about? Because 34 seconds into that video, he says he's using distilled water.

Any H2 operation is going to need to start with known components which are going to approach half the cost of gasoline, which makes them an economical non-starter and therefore a green pipe dream.

Electrochemical compressors have been developed- no moving parts.

And if such compressors were functional and economically viable, they would be EVERYWHERE.
The market in America doesn't give a $#@! about hydrogen vehicles. But if this thing you're showing me actually did work, it would already be in every other compressed gas application out there, and compressors are all around you.
There is simply no way the capital cost is a quarter of mechanical compression, that they are able to achieve 14,000psi in one stage, that they have no moving parts (and subsequent lower maintenance and wear), and it actually works, and we don't already see them everywhere.
I don't have to be an expert in H2 technology to see that that is a plainly impossible claim.

What a pathetic display of "Can't Do".

It's not a case of me saying "can't do". It's a case of me observing that it isn't happening.

You don't know the first thing about today's hydrogen industry, yet you fancy yourself as some kind of expert.

At no point did I claim to be an expert. I merely claim to have eyes, and be able to see what's happening around me.
And none of this messianic technology is happening.

China takes this tech and runs with it, which is exactly what they are doing while a bunch of ignorant Americans say it can't be done.

I thought I was pretty clear that economics is the subject at hand, and is the reason why none of this is happening in the US, because despite all its faults, America is still a place that at least pays lip service to economic law.

You guys don't realize this, but you follow an entirely predictable pattern.
You show up claiming that some obvious bull$#@! like solar freakin' roadways is going to revolutionize society,
then someone shows up to point out how it is clearly bull$#@! because it's in no way economical,
and then you call people names,
then you point out that socialist countries are able to do it.

Sorry, I'm not really convinced that a country that is ok with tearing apart the bodies of political prisoners and putting them on display to the world has the best economic interests of its people in mind.
Yes, you can probably make all this work just fine with the unlimited resources of a major world economy behind it.
The reason you get people like me showing up to call you a charlatan, especially on boards like this, is because this outs you as someone who is actively working to end human liberty.

Sure, we can have hydrogen power for 3+ times the cost of gasoline if we give up our liberty. I don't think I have ever said anything different about any of these green sociopathic fantasies.