AA Fuel Cell

Big thanks to NachoMahma for the wire, without him it wouldn't be possible for this experiment.

This was an experiment to make a AA fuel cell with house hold parts (plus platinum Wire), but it failed. In a performence test it produced an unstead 2 - 1.5 volts for 10 seconds, yet it couldn't even light up a red LED. With that said here's the AA hydrogen fuel cell!

2 cheap AA (not shown)

solder

nut and bolt

platinum wire

a tube that's the size of an AA, I made one from a 5cc syringe

glue

a bit of aluminum

water

For safty, use gloves for this, and I don't have pictures because I didn't want to get black powder all over my camera.

Take apart both AA's to get the negative caps. The cheaper the battery, the easier it is.

You could only take apart 1 AA and use positive and negative caps, but I found soldering the negative cap was easier.

Mark the tube with a sharpie either 1/3 the way in or 2/3 the way in, it doesn't matter, it's all relative.

Here's the design of what this is going to look like in the end.

wind coils of platinum around the bolt so you can screw off the bolt. Make the coils a tiny bit shorter than each side.

turn up you soldering iron to maybe around 650F

Make a giant blob of solder on the terminal, insert the coil and wait about 10 seconds for the solder to solidify. Repeat for the shorter coil.

insert the aluminum barrier on the mark you marked earlier. make it water tight with super glue around the perimeter. this is easier if you put it on your not and bolt and adjust the nut to make it level.

fill one cavity with water (leave some gap, I'd say about 3/4 to 7/8 full), super glue the coil and terminal on, then do the same on the othe rside.

to charge it hook up the larger cavity to the - and the smaller cavity to the +. Use at least 9 volts. This will create hydrogen and oxygen bubbles, which the platinum can convert back into electricity.