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A simple, low-cost, and robust system to measure the volume of hydrogen evolved by chemical reactions with aqueous solutions

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journal contribution
posted on 2016-03-10, 13:49 authored by Paul Brack, Sandie DannSandie Dann, Upul Wijayantha-Kahagala-Gamage, Paul L. Adcock, Simon E. Foster
There is a growing research interest in the development of portable systems which can deliver hydrogen on-demand to proton exchange membrane (PEM) hydrogen fuel cells. Researchers seeking to develop such systems require a method of measuring the generated hydrogen. Herein, we describe a simple, low-cost, and robust method to measure the hydrogen generated from the reaction of solids with aqueous solutions. The reactions are conducted in a conventional one-necked round-bottomed flask placed in a temperature controlled water bath. The hydrogen generated from the reaction in the flask is channeled through tubing into a water-filled inverted measuring cylinder. The water displaced from the measuring cylinder by the incoming gas is diverted into a beaker on a balance. The balance is connected to a computer, and the change in the mass reading of the balance over time is recorded using data collection and spreadsheet software programs. The data can then be approximately corrected for water vapor using the method described herein, and parameters such as the total hydrogen yield, the hydrogen generation rate, and the induction period can also be deduced. The size of the measuring cylinder and the resolution of the balance can be changed to adapt the setup to different hydrogen volumes and flow rates.

Funding

The authors thank the EPSRC and Intelligent Energy Ltd for funding this project. PB also thanks the SCI for the award of a Messel Scholarship.

History

School

  • Science

Department

  • Chemistry

Published in

Journal of Visual Experiments

Citation

BRACK, P. ... et al., 2016. A simple, low-cost, and robust system to measure the volume of hydrogen evolved by chemical reactions with aqueous solutions. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 114, e54383, doi:10.3791/54383.

Publisher

Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE)

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Publication date

2016

Notes

This is the article to accompany the Journal of Visualized Experiments video. The video component of this article can be found at http://www.jove.com/video/54383/ [Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License]

eISSN

1940-087X

Language

  • en