Transcript Formic Acid fuel cells for MPG

Abstract:
This project is geared towards the design of a
greener battery. The current battery design
consists of Copper and Zinc electrodes with an
electrolyte composition of Copper Sulfate
(CuSO4), Zinc Nitrate (Zn(NO3)2), and
Potassium Chloride (KCl). The performance of
the battery with Copper Sulfate and Potassium
Chloride was comparable to the battery with
Zinc Nitrate, as such we eliminated use of Zinc
Nitrate. Next we attempted to replace
Potassium Chloride with a greener solute
Sodium Chloride (NaCl), common table salt. We
optimized the concentration of NaCl in our
batteries. Batteries with optimized concentration
of NaCl resulted in significantly higher power
density. Our final product – a greener battery,
now consists of Zinc and Copper rods with
Copper Sulfate and Sodium Chloride as the
electrolyte.
Experiment:
Results and Discussion (Continued):
• This home built battery uses a Zinc rod for the anode and a Copper rod for the cathode. These
rods were inserted into a container at a fixed distance.
• Zinc nitrate had no effect when paired with
Potassium Chloride
• Zinc Nitrate was eliminated
• Common Salt (Sodium Chloride) was
considered to replace Potassium Chloride
• Optimized concentrations of Sodium
Chloride: 0.1M, 0.5M, 1.0M NaCl
• 1.0M NaCl was the optimal concentration of
Sodium Chloride
• Two Multimeters were then attached to the rods in order to record current and voltage for 30
minutes
• Electrolyte effect of Zinc Nitrate:
• Solution of 0.1M CuSO4
• Solution of 0.1M CuSO4 and Zn(NO3)2
• Solution of 0.1M CuSO4 and Zn(NO3)2 and KCl
• Solution of 0.1M CuSO4 and KCl
• It was determined through this experimentation that Zinc Nitrate was redundant. With the
elimination of Zinc Nitrate we then tested different concentrations of Sodium Chloride in place of
Potassium Chloride.
Effect of Potassium Chloride vs. Common Salt
(Sodium Chloride):
Here various concentrations of NaCl were studied to
optimize the concentration of NaCl.
Introduction:
• Solution of 0.1M CuSO4 and 0.1M KCl
Batteries have a cathode and an anode.
• Solution of 0.1M CuSO4 and 0.1M NaCl
Anode is negatively charged where oxidation
• Solution of 0.1M CuSO4 and 0.5M NaCl
leads to the generation of electrons:
Zn(s)Zn2+(aq) + 2e-
• Solution of 0.1M CuSO4 and 1.0M NaCl
Cathode is positively charged where reduction
leads to consumption of electrons:
Cu2+(aq) + 2e- Cu(s)
The overall chemical reaction inside the battery
could be represented as:
Zn(s)+Cu2+(aq) Zn2+(aq) + Cu(s)
Fig 1: Homemade battery with copper cathode
and zinc anode attached to multimeters for
monitoring the performance
Effect of Electrolyte Potassium Chloride vs Common Salt:
Copper Sulfate, Zinc Nitrate, Potassium
Chloride, or Sodium Chloride are the
electrolytes that transport ions.
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battery
From our experimentation we found that
the presence of Zinc Nitrate was redundant
and was eliminated from further studies.
We replaced Potassium Chloride with
common table salt (Sodium Chloride).
Optimized concentrations of Sodium
Chloride resulted in significantly higher
power density than Potassium Chloride.
Our final greener battery uses Copper
Sulfate with Common Salt as electrolyte.
A GREENER BATTERY!
•Cheng, Jie, Yue-Hua Wen, Gao-Ping Cao, and YuSheng Yang. "Influence of Zinc Ions in Electrolytes
on the Stability of Nickel Oxide Electrodes for Single
Flow Zinc–nickel Batteries." Journal of Power
Sources 196.3 (2011): 1589-592. Print.
•Mills, Allan A. "Early Voltaic Batteries: An Evaluation
in Modern Units and Application to the Work of Davy
and Faraday." Annals of Science 60.4 (2003): 37398. Print.
Acknowledgements:
Electrons flow through the external circuit.
In this study we investigated the following
effects:
a) Presence and absence of Zinc Nitrate
b) Effect of Potassium Chloride vs. Common
Salt
c) Study the performance of a greener battery
• We have successfully created a greener
References:
Results and Discussion:
Effect of Electrolyte Zinc Nitrate:
Conclusions:
•Department of Chemistry and Physics for use of
facilities, equipment, and chemicals
•Salem State University
•The Frederick A. Meier Science Award
•My grandfather Michael P. Stiebitz
Fig 2: Effect of elimination of Zinc Nitrate on the
performance of batteries
Fig 3: Effect of replacing KCl with greener table
salt, NaCl, on the performance of batteries.