New Generation of Hydrogen Fuel Cells Powers Up

An anonymous reader writes "A safer and more practical way of storing and releasing hydrogen, discovered by two Arizona State University researchers, could lead to a new type of fuel cell capable of packing 10 times more energy. The key is apparently using the alkaline compound borohydride — 'a 30% solution of borohydride in water actually contains one-third more hydrogen than the same volume of liquid hydrogen.'"

Huh? Help out an under educated ignorant, please

[Dimes]

Ok, I am confused.....or ignorant.

How does a mixture of Borohydride(not pure hydrogen) and Water(which is already only 2/3 hy
drogen) end up being more hydrogen than Liquid Hydrogen? Isn't Liquid Hydrogen pure hydrogen?

If I am ignorant, educate me....but this sorta reminds me of the line from Anchorman:

"60% of the time it works 100% of the time"

Help me understand.

dimes

For the non-fuel cell people.

[jellomizer]

One of the major things that are holding Hydrogen Fuel Cells back is the fact that it takes more energy to extract the hyrogen from the envrionment then it produces in the fuel cell. So this makes hydrogen more expensive then fossil fuels, as well more of an inpact on the environment (assuming they are using non-green power generation)

Re:For the non-fuel cell people.

[timeOday]

As opposed to oil, where each gallon we pump out puts two back into the ground?

Give in to our nuclear overlords.

[xshader]

It is possible to design nuclear plants to preform electrolysis on the off-hours when the load is low. What does a nuclear power plant do? Boils lots of water. When the load is low, they can run the extra current directly thru the water that was just boiled. Yes, it is not the most efficient power conversion, but we have so much nuclear fuel available why not use it? Sometime in the future we will figure out what to do with the waste. We are a smart race. Worse case we can just launch it into the sun or in a trajectory pointing away from our planet.

Is nuclear that bad? We have known the properties of the splitting atom for decades now... we should have a good understanding of how to utilize this abundant resource. The waste is manageable. Is the waste of a coal plant manageable? Once you spew all that C0_2 and other by-products into the atmosphere there is no (sane) way to recapture it.

Nuclear is our future. Give in to our nuclear overlords.

Re:For the non-fuel cell people.

[Ironsides]

One of the major things that are holding Hydrogen Fuel Cells back is the fact that it takes more energy to extract the hyrogen from the envrionment then it produces in the fuel cell.

That may be one of the major things, but I'd say the biggest is that with existing fuel cells, you're required to have pure hydrogen as a fuel. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not have something that is likely to explode around me. This will really help out in that respect.

New generation?

[zdzichu]

I'm still waiting for previous generation to be available as laptop battery.

Re:For the non-fuel cell people.

[ADamiani]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the capacity to go boom almost innate in any form of chemical fuel storage? Gasoline is always a spark away from exploding-- would hydrogen be any worse?

Re:Chemical info on Borohydride

[Gr8Apes]

All the above comments neglect the major energy source in the galaxy:

gravity

(ocean tides are one that can be easily used to generate electricity, global tidal forces contribute heat to the earth itself)