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Building Fuel Cells from Kits?

Posted by Cliff on from the building-21st-century-batteries dept.

ItsMr.Data asks: "I am looking for a model fuel cell. After checking many web sites, and this one seems to have the best selection. I am wondering if, due to the high cost of the kits, any Slashdot readers have ever built their own fuel cells. I would also like to know if any readers have found any good resellers of kits and supplies."

5 of 25 comments (clear)

  1. It just so happens by ColaMan · · Score: 4, Informative

    That I've got a catalogue today with a fuel cell kit.

    It's from an australian company, and it costs AUD299 so it's probably not much help - but it does look like some sort of generic kit. No specs on the cell though :-(

    --

    You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
    There is a lot of hype here.
    1. Re:It just so happens by gmhowell · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yikes! This product looks identical. Even figuring for the exchange rate, you guys are getting ripped. I could buy them in the US at retail and still sell for less than AUD299. Interested in importing some? :)

      (thanks to a later poster who provided the US link.)

      --
      Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
  2. Here's another... by mOoZik · · Score: 4, Informative

    I've been meaning to get one for myself, but haven't yet found the time.

    Fuel Cell Kit

    --
    A blog like any other.
  3. Not just a toy; this is the the real product. by bobv-pillars-net · · Score: 4, Informative

    Most of the posters here are providing links to "toy" fuel cells, suitable for lab experiments and small robotic toys but vastly underpowered for real-world applications. So I searched a bit further and found the real thing.

    Product brochure (PDF format) is here.

    Click here for a search interface to various fuel-cell products and technologies.

    --
    The Web is like Usenet, but
    the elephants are untrained.
  4. Re:platinum catalysts by pla · · Score: 4, Informative

    Do you have proof of this? It sounds like complete bunk to me.

    Wise default opinion... Even ignoring the economics of the situation (how do they sell a vehicle containing $100k worth of platinum for FAR under $100k?), such an assertion also ignores the requirements of such a fuel cell as well.

    First of all, most "platinum" catalysts actually use palladium, still not cheap but a tenth the cost of actual platinum. Second, surface area means everything. The most common way of maximizing surface area of a catalyst involves using it as a componant of the surface of a ceramic material (such as in catalytic converters, which on average use less than a quarter of milligram of palladium). On a similar catalyst-density to a catalytic converter, even using real platinum rather than palladium, you would need a ceramic cube over 250 feet on a side to use up $100,000 worth of platinum).

    Finally, even if this particular use required (for some strange reason) non-powdered metal, presenting a solid metalic surface - Making it into a foil bonded to some less expensive metal (copper, for instance) would give you (at least) 125 square feet of surface area. A thick electroplating could beat that by an order of magnitude.

    So no, you should not believe it, without some totally irrefutable proof.