How to make an aluminium air battery selfmade homemade DIY batteries

[ferrouscromagnon]

Very informative video. The music is catchy as well. I would like to get more information on this music.

[Begbucks]

What the largest you built?

[TheCerberusInferno]

I like the music ..

[DexterEvilGenius]

mmmmm pencil bbq delicious :D

[tweety30number11]

how many volts is the output?????? i need 12 volt thank you great vid.

[ruskie20]

What is the song name? Good video too.

[MucusFelidae]

That's how a post nuclear World War 3 society will start again from scrap, literally.

[DrDontDoDis]

The music aside, this is a VERY good video on making Al-air cells.  Like all batteries, it's only an energy storage device and Al-air is very difficult to recharge. Its power comes from the oxidation of the aluminum, the reverse process of aluminm smelting, which is VERY energy intensive. An Al-air cell releases that energy. Because half of the fuel is present in air, metal-air batteries are the most energy dense known.

BTW Na2CO3 (roasted baking soda) should also be a good electrolyte.

[yellowmetalcyborg]

@DrDontDoDis Thanks! I'm sorry I didn't put better music for this video, I didn't want to buy music specifically for this video because I didn't put any ads on it. I adress the energy input vs output issue in the video description of the original video.

[naturecollision]

I wonder how much energy was spend to create this battery ...

[yellowmetalcyborg]

@naturecollision Lots of energy, I adress this issue in the video description of the original version of this video.

[1BustedMyth]

The short answer is that a large amount of Electricity was used to make the Aluminium, the cell is giving it back to you and Aluminium Oxide is left over, this can be made into more Aluminium with a large amount of electricity, this cell will also give off a reasonable amount of Hydrogen while it works.

Heat will also dictate the power output of the cell, hotter the elctrolyte (salt water) the more power and shorter the life, colder the opposite

Corrode the metal, get Hydrogen and electricity

[yellowmetalcyborg]

@1BustedMyth This was just an experiment, of course I'm aware that Al production is a very power hungry industry. If you want to release all the energy stored in the aluminium, try making thermite. Thermite is the best demonstration of stored chemical potential energy in aluminium.

[1BustedMyth]

Making simple batteries

There is always a trade off: High power or long life once activated but not both. The further the materials are apart on the scale the more reactive, more electron flow, higher power and the shorter the life of the cell, the closer the opposite.

EG: Graphite Magnesium: high power, short life

Graph/ Gold low power long life

Galvanic series/ Scales

Non reactive at the top, most reactive at the bottom

wikipedia. org /wiki/Galvanic_series (Take out the spaces)

[yellowmetalcyborg]

@1BustedMyth Yes, but it also means that the more active the metals, the faster the self discharge rate, the more energy you lose when the battery is not in use.

[1BustedMyth]

@yellowmetalcyborg, Totaly agree, unless the cell has the elctrolyte removed.

EG: Life jacket batteries are stored dry, last indefinetly (almost) and activate when you jump in the water.

[yellowmetalcyborg]

@1BustedMyth That's the same principle I use for these batteries, in fact I stored these batteries for about a week before I dunked them into some electrolyte.

[1BustedMyth]

@yellowmetalcyborg, Please don't ever read my comments as anything but constructive, I'm completely supportive of experimenting. I am to the point, because I've had a stroke and at times have trouble reading, writing. All the best

[yellowmetalcyborg]

@1BustedMyth I'm gald you're supportive of experimentation. There aren't much experimenters here on youtube, and it's a shame. It's mainly through experimentation that you really find out how things work and how things can be improved. I can summarize the chemistry behind this cell in one formula, but it took me about 5 months to make this battery, I never thought that it would be this difficult to make a semi-useful power source!

[1BustedMyth]

@yellowmetalcyborg, Ah well, hard work always pays off, keep up the good work, you may like to check out the old Edison Nickel iron cell, claimed to have a very long life.

wikipedia.(org)/wiki/Nickel-ir­on_battery

Few people on yt have done them as well I think.

What is the formula you worked out by the way?

All the best

[yellowmetalcyborg]

I already checked out the nickel iron battery and other uncommon power sources such as the zinc air cell, the lithium sulfur cell and the sodium sulfur battery. All of which (except the zinc air and NaS battery) require exotic materials in order to work. I considered making a NaS battery at one point, but sodium polysulfides would eat through any container I put them in. Furthermore, they have to be kept at a temperature of 300C.

4Al + 3O2 + 6H2O → 4Al(OH)3 + 2.71 V (I didn't work it out though)

[1BustedMyth]

@yellowmetalcyborg, Also, there is a cell I worked worth for a while, that was designed to make hydrogen on demand from Seawater, it used 3 electrodes, Aluminium, Stainless Steel and Magnesium. The unique part was that it required no electrical input at all. The cell could be shut down electively by pumping out the water.

I am researching flow batteries and electrolyte temperature manipulation at the moment, to look for cheaper, higher energy density and lead, Lithium free designs.

[1BustedMyth]

Great little project

You'll have to excuse me, my chemistry is basic: what is K2Co3?

I have worked with electric cars for a long time, extending range, life of batteries and seeking new bettery chemistry, there are several air cells (zinc air etc) these use the oxygen out of the air. This cell seems to not warrant the name "air battery"as you are using a liquid electrolyte. Similar cells to this are used on life jackets to provide power, when activated by Seawater.

Keep up the good work!

[yellowmetalcyborg]

@1BustedMyth Potassium carbonate,

These batteries are not very efficient because they get the oxygen needed to make the reaction proceed from dissolved O2 in the water, a very inefficient design.

Thank you for the kind words!

[PoirierMike]

Very Practical.  Thank you very much.

[overunitydotcom]

The best electrolyte is K2CO3 in water,

but also very diluted solutions of NaOH or KOH in water will work,

but are much more corrosive

and will decompose the alufoil very fast, so use only very diluted,

but best is K2CO3 in water, as it does not decompose the alufoil.

Per cell you can get around 1.3 to 1.5 Volts this way, so a few in series

should be able to drive your Joule Ringer circuit.

[overunitydotcom]

You can also use a bigger graphite sticks from an old zinc-graphite batteries

or use graphite sticks from painters supply.

But not the charcoal sticks, but only the real graphite sticks !

Charcoal does not conduct the current, only graphite does it.

Also you could use carbon copy paper, but this is very fragile,

but has a nice surface area.

Just try it, or use graphite spray and spray a paper towel.

Kontakt Chemie in Germany is producing a graphite spray

with a acrylic binder glue in it.

[Upuauta]

What is the science behind this? It´s nice and reminds me of a battery.

[yellowmetalcyborg]

@Upuauta The graphite catalyses the formation of OH- ions from water, oxygen from the air, and spare electrons. Iron also works, but there is a trade off. If you use carbon, you will get a fast reaction rate with a few carbon rods, if you use iron, you will need to use massive amounts of steel wool (a large surface area) to get the same reaction rate. The OH- ions combine with aluminium atoms on the anode to form Al(OH)3 and releasing 3 electrons that flow through an external circuit.

[Upuauta]

@yellowmetalcyborg Thank you very much for the information. Very interesting.

[yellowmetalcyborg]

@Upuauta I put the explanation on my original video, but overunitydotcom decided not to copy it, ah well.

[pkrska]

Which part is the positive? Is it the carbon rod?

And the negative is the aluminum?

[overunitydotcom]

@pkrska

Yes, graphite is positive and the aluminium is negative.

[satan31337]

why do people still think pencil leads are carbon.. there graphite, not lead not carbon.. graphite.. graphite is a allotropes or polymorph of carbon, like a diamond is as well. if you want carbon rods go to a welding suplie store u can buy a box of them cheap

[yellowmetalcyborg]

@satan31337 For the mechanics of the reaction, (the calalyzed formation of OH- ions), it doesn't matter if you use graphite or carbon, they yield the same result and performance, graphite rods are much more resistant to fracture though. I've tried making this cell by pyrolyzing sawdust into carbon powder and I got the same results.

[Clicklc1500]

If you add a flux capaciter to that you'll be able to time travel.

J/K, Interesting experiment.

[erogers36]

nice work

[yellowmetalcyborg]

@erogers36 Thank you for the kind words!

[overunitydotcom]

otherwise the alufoil will smoke away and it

will generate Hydrogen, which can explode when it all heats

up. So only use very low concentration NaOH...but

K2CO3 is much better, as it does not consume the Alufoil

and does not generate Hydrogen, but makes the alufoil

more reactive and this generates more voltage also.

You can also try graphite spray which is produced by a german company

called contact chemie.

I still have to try this myself, if this will work when sprayed onto

towel paper.

[overunitydotcom]

Well, really try to get K2CO3 mixed into water for the electrolyte if you can get it...

It really makes a difference !

The voltage is almost double from one cell !

Also the current is then much better.

If you can´t get K2CO3 you can try it with NaOH which is in Drano pipe cleaner,

so you can buy any cheap pipe cleaner in your supermarket

and use it, but make the solution only very thin (light), cause NaOH

will already eat the alufoil away very fast itsself, so use only very

few NaOH in water.