Not one for the squeamish this - an Ohio University professor has created a catalyst that can extract hydrogen from urine meaning that we could potentially be driving around in cars powered by pee.
According to Garardine Botte, the device uses significantly less energy than is needed to extract hydrogen from water and it could power hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the near future.
The electrolyser she uses has a nickel-based electrode which extracts hydrogen from urea. As hydrogen is less tightly bound in the nitrogen in urea than it is in the oxygen in water, the electrolyser needs just 0.37 volts across the cell to oxidise it. That is less than half the amount of energy in an AA battery and significantly less than the 1.23 volts needed to split water.
It could be an important solution as one of the main stumbling blocks for hydrogen so far has been the amount of energy needed to produce it. As urine is also readily available - with human bodies typically producing two-three litres a day - we could treat the waste water and fuel our cars.
According to Botte speaking at Wired.com, an electrolyser built into a car would eliminate the need for a hydrogen storage tank and with the right partnership, a pee-powered car could achieve 60mpg on the road within a year.
And no, we’re not taking the p…
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