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Piezo Crystals Harness Sound To Generate Hydrogen

Posted by timothy on from the what's-shakin'? dept.

MikeChino writes "Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered that a mix of zinc oxide crystals, water, and noise pollution can efficiently produce hydrogen without the need for a dirty catalyst like oil. To generate the clean hydrogen, researchers produced a new type of zinc oxide crystals that absorb vibrations when placed in water. The vibrations cause the crystals to develop areas with strong positive and negative charges — a reaction that rips the surrounding water molecules and releases hydrogen and oxygen. The mechanism, dubbed the piezoelectrochemical effect, converts 18% of energy from vibrations into hydrogen gas (compared to 10% from conventional piezoelectric materials), and since any vibration can produce the effect, the system could one day be used to generate power from anything that produces noise — cars whizzing by on the highway, crashing waves in the ocean, or planes landing at an airport."

6 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. Re:This SOUNDS Like A Breakthrough! by sackvillian · · Score: 5, Informative

    But can it produce enough electricity to power a small radio that plays the music used to create the vibrations necessary to produce the electricity?

    No.

    Sincerely yours,

    The Second Law of Thermodynamics

    --
    Hey mate, spare a sig?
  2. Thermodynamics by Sarten-X · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It sounds (no pun intended) like this material would have to absorb energy from the sound wave. I wonder how well it would work as an acoustic barrier bordering a highway. It'd be refilled by rain, powered by noise, and it might just block the sound better than those lovely concrete walls we have now.

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    You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    1. Re:Thermodynamics by KahabutDieDrake · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Before you start throwing around the fud, maybe you should check a few pesky facts. Lets start with current cars. Pretty much 4 wheels a cabin, an engine and big ass tank of flammable liquid with a low ignition point and a high explosive rating due to vapors. It's fuel air mixture is also fairly wide. To compare, we have hydrogen gas... Which has a narrow fuel air mix, a high ignition point, and which is lighter than air. So now we imagine a freeway with a wall on either side. The wall is an aquarium with crystals and a piping system to extract the hydrogen into the grid. Now, your car, which is a finely tuned BOMB ruptures the wall, breaking the aquarium and the gas lines. What happens? The water pours out, probably retarding any fire your car started, and the hydrogen goes straight up and dissipates harmlessly. Most likely, you never had a fuel air mix capable of igniting the hydrogen.

      Liquid fuel used in automobiles is about as volatile as anything gets (at least in public spaces). Ng, Hydrogen and other compressed gasses are considerably safer. They dissipate quickly, require fairly small windows for ignition, and most of them require significantly more spark to fire up in the first place.

    2. Re:Thermodynamics by WalksOnDirt · · Score: 5, Informative

      hydrogen gas... Which has a narrow fuel air mix

      I don't think so.

      Flammability Concentration Limits
      Hydrogen 4% to 75%
      Gasoline 1.4% to 7.6%

      The auto-ignition temperature is indeed higher for hydrogen, 500 Celsius compared to 280 for gasoline. I had not known that.

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      a,e,i,o,u and sometimes w and y (at be if of up cwm by)
  3. Car Troubles... by cobryce · · Score: 5, Funny

    The next time you see someone screaming at their car on the side of the road, they might just be fueling up ;)

  4. Re:This SOUNDS Like A Breakthrough! by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 5, Funny

    No.

    Sincerely yours,

    The Second Law of Thermodynamics

    But isn't the First Law of Thermodynamics to never talk about the Second Law of Thermodynamics?