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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday August 13 2017, @01:04AM   Printer-friendly
from the water-powered dept.

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Army scientists and engineers recently made a groundbreaking discovery -- an aluminum nanomaterial of their design produces high amounts of energy when it comes in contact with water, or with any liquid containing water.

During routine materials experimentation at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, a team of researchers observed a bubbling reaction when adding water to a nano-galvanic aluminum-based powder.

"We all as a team were very excited and ecstatic that something good had happened," said Dr. Anit Giri, a physicist with the lab's Weapons and Materials Research Directorate.

The team further investigated and found that water -- two molecules[sic] of hydrogen and one of oxygen -- splits apart when coming into contact with their unique aluminum nanomaterial.

The reaction surprised the researchers, but they soon considered its potential implications for future power and energy applications.

Source: https://www.army.mil/article/191212/army_discovery_may_offer_new_energy_source


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 14 2017, @03:06AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 14 2017, @03:06AM (#553444)

    They are almost certainly generating hydrogen by oxidizing aluminum. There are already fuel cells that do exactly this.

    Almost: the hydrogen produced by reaction of aluminum with water can be used in a fuel cell, or for other purposes. Putting the aluminum powder form [energy.gov] had already been done.