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IEEE Spectrum has a story on research into graphene which shows protons can pass through the material. One of the key properties of graphene was that it was previously thought to be impermeable to gases and liquids:
But as Geim and his colleagues discovered, in research that was published in the journal Nature, monolayers of graphene and boron nitride are highly permeable to thermal protons under ambient conditions. So hydrogen atoms stripped of their electrons could pass right through the one-atom-thick materials.
This has significant applications in fuel cells, since proton exchange membrane fuel cells require a barrier that only passes protons, and this discovery could be used to improve the efficiency of existing designs. However in addition to this it could also allow the cells to extract hydrogen directly from humid air
It is conceivable, based on this research, that hydrogen production could be combined with the fuel cell itself to make what would amount to a mobile electric generator fueled simply by hydrogen present in air.
“When you know how it should work, it is a very simple setup,” said Marcelo Lozada-Hidalgo, a PhD student and corresponding author of this paper, in a press release. “You put a hydrogen-containing gas on one side, apply a small electric current, and collect pure hydrogen on the other side. This hydrogen can then be burned in a fuel cell.”
Additional detail is available at Science Daily and in the original press release from the University of Manchester.
(Score: 2) by Zinho on Thursday December 04 2014, @04:37PM
Why not just ditch all the hydrogen separation, storage and burning apparatus, and use your electric charge to run the car?
. . .
IANAphysicist or engineer but it seems pretty obvious to me. Am I missing something here?
Nope, you're on top of it. There is no suggestion that the graphene is catalyzing the reaction, so there would be conversion losses during separation that you wouldn't get back during combustion. The self-fueling fuel cell they proposed is a clear third-law violation, and if it worked it would be a perpetual motion machine.
Using graphene as a separator seems to me to be an industrial process, not one you'd want on your car. I can't imagine depending on a single-molecule-thick membrane as a fuel source on a car; one bad pothole and I'm stuck in traffic trying to suck water vapor into my fuel cell to burn it. As a method for energy storage, sure; it'll run off of grid power on a vibration-stabilized platform just fine.
For what it's worth, Platinum and Palladium also are permeable to Hydrogen through a similar process, and are used in this role already. The advantage to the graphene would be its better permeability, hence better economy on the process. I guess "improvement on current purification process" doesn't sound as sexy as "car that fuels itself".
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Thursday December 04 2014, @04:58PM
Thanks for confirming it.
> Platinum and Palladium ... are used in this role already. The advantage to the graphene would be its better permeability,
Presumably, the cost of graphene vs platinum / palladium would be another advantage.
Personally I just can't see hydrogen storage as a particularly useful technology, except in niche applications. Certainly not in cars. It's just too damn awkward to work with compared to batteries. I know the energy density is potentially higher (for now at least), but so are the overheads.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday December 04 2014, @05:37PM
Don't forget the ever popular risk of going kerblooie. Hydrogen just has a much nastier catastrophic failure result than batteries or even fossil fuels.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Kromagv0 on Thursday December 04 2014, @07:16PM
Even if the graphene was catalyzing the reaction it wouldn't lower it enough to get it below the minimum energy to form a water molecule only moving the complete loop closer to unity.
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