Submission + - Fuel Cells From Nanomaterials made from Human Urine (nature.com)
turning in circles writes: Carbon based fuel cells require carbon doped with other elements, normally platinum, for oxygen reduction reactions. Urine contains carbon with an exciting splash of nitrogen, sulfur, potassium, silicon, and so on, and you don't have to manufacture it, the stuff just comes out by itself. In an article published this week in an open journal, researchers from Korea this week reported a new nanomaterial for fuel cells, which they dub "Urine Carbon." Upon drying, and then heating at 1000C, and rinsing of salts, the resulting Urine Carbon porous nanostructures outperformed Carbon/platinum in electrodes. Now this is Gee Whiz science for you.