Hey guys sorry for the late post but here’s what I did in
Week 2!
During Week 1, Dr. Tao and I worked out the design of the
device so this week we were able to work on figuring out what materials the
parts were to be made of. These included the container, the electrodes, the
collection tube, the salt, the seals, and the solar cell/ batteries.
The container: For the container, we would need an affordable
material that wouldn’t interfere with the experiment. We narrowed down our
focus to glass and plastic containers. In the end we decided plastic may be
best so that it is easier to puncture the lid to make openings for the
electrodes and the collection tube.
The electrodes: I plan on using graphite rods for both the
anode and cathode. Graphite is a good conductor and shouldn’t interfere with
the electrolysis of water chemically.
The collection tube: While it would be alright to use any
material for the tube as long as it doesn’t react with the gas, plastic tubing,
for example, would not be the best choice because to test for the existence of
hydrogen gas, we would try to ignite it using a flame and this may cause the
tube to melt. With that in mind, we chose to use a copper tube so that it would
not melt with the heat.
The salt: The salt should be chosen carefully so that noxious
gases don’t form as a result of using them. For example, if NaCl were to be
used it could result in the unwanted formation of Cl2 gas. It would
also be wise to use a gas with a high solubility product constant, Ksp, so that
it can increase the conductivity of the solution more effectively. Taking both
into consideration, we plan to use Na2SO4.
The seals: The purpose of the seals is to trap the hydrogen
gas within the container so that there is enough to create a flow through the
collection tube to ignite. As of now, I’m not completely sure if the seals
we’ve chosen to use will be adequate enough, but I plan to use a rubber band to
seal the space between the cap and the container. To seal the gaps between the
electrodes and the container cap I will use rubber plugs that my professor
already has, and for the gap between the collection tube and the cap, I have to
find a plug that contains a hole with the correct diameter (that of the
collection tube).
The solar panel/ batteries: Once the optimum voltage and
current is found using the batteries, we can determine which solar panel to use
for the device.
This week was also exciting because I got to meet some new
people! Every Friday, all of the undergraduate and graduate students that work
in Dr. Tao’s lab meet up for a team meeting to report their progress to him. It
was interesting to listen as each of them shared their week’s findings and I had
the opportunity to talk with a couple of them after the meeting was over.
Looking forward to working with them!
Hi Afra!
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that you will test for the existence of hydrogen gas by igniting it. Is this your final test to check if your water splitting was successful? I'm thinking that when you split water it splits into hydrogen and oxygen, so just testing if hydrogen is present should confirm the splitting. But do you plan on performing any other confirmation tests? Maybe somehow checking if oxygen is present? It may not be necessary, but I was just wondering if you had any plans of other ways to confirm the water split.
Hey Lucky!
DeleteThat's a good question. So far, I just plan on testing for hydrogen gas by igniting it because like you said that would confirm that the splitting was successful. Other than this, I would also check for the formation of bubbles in the liquid because that should show that gas (both hydrogen and oxygen) is produced from the water. Hope that helps!
Hi Afra, your project looks awesome! I was curious, do you know if the parts you are using are expensive? Or are these components (for the most part) relatively inexpensive components that anyone could buy?
ReplyDeleteHi Ani, Thanks for reading! So far with the research I've done the parts I'm using are relatively inexpensive and can be easily ordered online or found in store. I aim to try to build a device that works efficiently but also is inexpensive so that it can be used by general people and in demonstrations of the applications of renewable energy.
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