Duetrium!(at Home) the Environmental Friendley Way
by hiesenberg slayer in Workshop > Science
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Duetrium!(at Home) the Environmental Friendley Way
per 7 litres of normal water, there is roughly 1 millieter of duetruim oxide
what is duetrium? its an isotope of hydrogen with 1 nuetrons intsead of 0
making it ttwice as heavy as normal hydrogen
thus it can be separated, using the electrolyses method
but as you can see, a Ton of water is wasted for a milliliter of d20
thus my plan is to create a homemade hydrogen fuel cell to turn the oxygen and hydrogen back into water(that can be used) and also get back some of our lost energy
these instructable is a birds eye view of what ive learnt about electrolysis, and chemistry in general
Supplies
For the electrolysis part of the method
--naoh , or nacl,or even baking soda
--(12v)voltage source,(a wall adapter is best since a battery needs to be recharged)
water
--inert electrodes(platinum,prefferubly or graphite) with high surface area
For the second, environment friendly method(which is a bit more challenging but also more fun)
a mini hydrogen fuel cell can be bought online(if you want to get as much energy back as you can this is a better option)
or
--platinum(plated) wire(if you can gettit, its best) or graphite pencil rods
--hardwork(more on this later)
--magnesium dioxide(a dry electrolyte) ; you can gut an empty 9v battery for it (which i did)
--tissuepaper
The Easy Part
the electrolysis is fairly simple,
the h2 and o2 of water gets split while the duetrium is slightly less likely to split due to its nature(i dont exaclty know why, if anyone knows plese tell in the comments)
this method of enriching water with duetrium gets(as i said) 1 millileterof d20 per seven liters of water
but a more effecient way of doing this is using2 litre of water(as an example) and refilling it 10 times when it reaches 1 litre
this gets you a liter of fairly enriched water from which the duetrium can be extracted at a later date
i used a 2 t shaped pvc pipes with (many)layers of graphite paint on thier insides for maximum conductivity(platinum plated pipe would be better, as graphite mixes with the water overtime)
The Hard(but Cool) Part
everything after this is about the fun part
this instructable explains the basics of a h2 fuel cell
www.instructables.com/How-to-Make-A-Simple-Hydrogen-Fuel-Cell/
im planning to make deuterium for profit so if i let all that water go to waste, it would be pointless
SO
im creating a hydrogen fuel cell,
which is basically the above electrolysis but in reverse,
let me explane
so the h2 and o2 flow on the two sides of the graphite catalyst(and electrodes) and turn h2 and 02 back into water,
and electrons comflow out at the electrodes which have a solid electrolyte (mg02)in between them
Getting Mg02
usually found in hevy duty 9v, 1.2v batterys
watch this video://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC5q9mDKUCo&ab_channel=NileRed
The Actual Cell
as you see in the pic, magnesum dioxide(covered paper) is used as an" dry " elecrolyte
and graphite(hopefully) as wires/rods and the electrodes and catalyst at the same time
i came up with this design at 12 oclock on the dot
remember,
(btw, lts a good idea to filter the output water of any magnesium dioxide )
Tips
-- choose inert electrodes
--the surface area of the electrodes must be very high
-- try and capture as much gas as you can as thats wasted water
--do not try to recycle the water from the fuel cell back into the electrolysis chamber, as that water has no dutrium in it anymore
--the water from the fuel cell is drinkable(very pure actually,(depending on how good your fuel cell is))
--baking soda is best(safest) for this but i used naoh
--always use caution when using naoh, have white vinegar on standby incase of any spill
--wear eye protection
-- do this in a ventilated space
--Have fun!(?)