Crystal Power CeLL by John Hutchison

[ian middleton]

G'day all,

After a little delay I finally set to and went through a cell making frenzy 
This month I've made 9 types and some show some real promise. I have attatched some photos.

[ian middleton]

oops, a bit quick with the enter key.

Anyway I'll get the pics done first and then fill you in on the individual cells.

[jadaro2600]

I'll go get the pottery plaster tomorrow and post my results by Monday.

[ian middleton]

ok here goes.

In an attempt to increase the current out of these things I changed the design to parrallel plate electrodes. Using this method also allows for greater polarization voltage across the curing mix. It worked to a degree insofar that now I'm getting a constant 120-160uA @ around a volt.

The button cells ( the ones that look like pennies) are 2mm thick and these were the last ones made.
Heres the mix if anyone would like to try it.

iron pyrites (powdered)         2.2g
tourmaline  (black,powdered) 1.5g
white builders cement           1.0g
rochelle salt                        7.0g
sodium silicate  ( dry)           2.5g

This makes enough for 4 cells. No water was used. And as you probably have quessed, the top +ve electrode is copper and the -ve is aluminium or alooominum depending which side of the ditch you're on.
The trick with this stuff is not to put the cement in until all the other ingedients have melted and combined and when you do be sure to be quick about it, you have about 90 seconds to pour and seal the cell, then the fun starts.

The is quite a substantial chemical reaction, what I mean by that is, the mix will start to expand. Even though the cells are only 2mm thick it took over 12kilo of weights to stop the stuff forcing it's way out. The force of expansion was quite surprising.
While still under the 12 kilos the cells were polarized with 3Kv for 36 hours.
As you can see from the photos they put out just over a volt and chug along @ around 25-30uA depending on ambient temperature. ( these things are very temperatur sensitive).

Not shown in the photos is a cell made 29th November 2009.
This cell had a massive surge current of 70mA @ 1.09V. It settled down to 200uA @1.0V and is now powering the digital watch. I,ve put the cell and the watch in a clear sealed box and I'm going to let go and see what happens.
Again, for those interested, here are the ingredients.

sodium silicate                16.2g
plaster of paris                1.7g
rochelle salt                    0.8g
white builders cement       8.7g

Now with this mix you have to be very quick from mixing to pouring. It sets in 20 seconds.

The highest voltage achieved this month goes to the cell built on 3rd december.
But as we have seen many times in the past it's current output is poor. 25uA.
This mix has a high percentage of bentonite clay.

Anyway thats enough for now, feel free to ask about any of the cells .

Catch yer later dudes and dudette (jeanna) 

[sutra]

Wow, Ian!

That's a very good output from such small cells..

I wonder what is the Amps output once piled and in series...

The piling method reminds me the first experiments of Volta...

Plaster of paris isn't already with water?

Very good job, dude!