Bio-friendly recycled materials battery

[SiliconWizard]

Hi guys

I've been doing a lot of research into wet-cell chemistry trying to find something that was a bit safer and more environmentally friendly than commercial batteries.

...And some of these alternative cells. Cmon guys, sodium and potassium peroxides. You shouldnt be chucking that stuff down your drains and I bet you arent disposing of them properly. Costs more than the battery is worth...

Anyway, I found one that works pretty well, and just about everything can be found laying around.

Anode is made of aluminium, cathode from carbon and the electrolyte is oxygen bleach. I use the one in the pink tub... There are several but look for Sodium PerCarbonate and TAED (TetraAcetylEthyleneDiamine) as the working components. Sounds nasty, but its basically turbo vinegar and soda:

2(Na2CO3·1.5H2O2) â†' 2 Na2CO3  + 3 H2O2 in solution - it makes Hydrogen Peroxide that then reacts with TAED to make PeroxyAcetic Acid, CH3CO3H.
What makes it interesting is that it has to mature first, freshly mixed up it does not work at all. If you leave it to stand though, the voltage peaks to 1.3V, dips, peaks again to 1.1V 50-60mA after about 12 hours and then produces for several days before dropping to 0.3V 2mA with a cloudy gel in the bottom. This is mostly Aluminium Hydroxide, the rest is a series of compounds that break down swiftly and harmlessly in the drain system as the makers of the stuff intended.

The ingredients are simple. Cola cans and small fizzy pop bottles provide one plate and a shell, stainless steel mesh from a sieve for another electrode and a chunk of charcoal provides the carbon. I do a pre-soak and would otherwise tip away, but its now ready for use. Old cloth or paper towel insulates the aluminium from the stainless mesh, which is wrapped around the charcoal. You just wrap the plate round the electrode and when its in the bottle it unwinds, you can get a few in there for extra amps. Dont forget the wires first, just rolled into the electrode and pinched flat with pliers. The positive electrode lasts forever, by the way. Comes up nice and clean.

Not the best in the world but its easy, free, and bio friendly. And yes, and it does the washing... Take that you stupid bunny ;o)

[The Observer]

Sil,

Bio Friendly?...
   I got Bio Friendly and it's been running a month   
        without and noticable degredation...
                just needs a bit of fresh tap water from time to time.

Best Regards,
                  The Observer

[Hugo Chavez]

check out some of the other battery threads here.  Several people using carbon and aluminum; carbon and magnesium etc.  Some good threads on earth batteries and all that too.  Check out the air battery thread.

[SiliconWizard]

Thanks, I already bought some magnesium ribbon, I'm actually working on a way of making a carbon core using Bentonite clay as a porous mechanical shell containing charcoal powder (Fuller's Earth or cheaper still, clumping cat litter) rather than buying one... WTG LaserSabre...

I've made numerous water / wet cell batteries and a few hybrid Stubblefields involving sulphur and carbon besides the regular iron and copper. One with Zinc wire that was pretty good, but all the water batteries only put out uAmps, and using pennies (I'm in the UK) costs me more than it does in cents... For 60mA, it'd be quite an outlay. I found all my parts on the side of the road except the o2 bleach, which I buy and throw away after use.

Mind if I ask what sort of amperage you're getting, Observer? I've never pulled anything worthwhile out of water without some help from chemicals, or using something really reactive like magnesium that outgases pretty bad too. Mine dont seem to produce significant gases beyond the initial oxygen.

My remit was free, not cheap, and no emissions/hazardous chemicals.

Keep up the good work, guys.

Peace

[The Observer]

Sil,

I suppose the amperage of my batteries would be more if there was acid in there.
Avoiding that.. I wanna see what is possible with just tap water.

Currently (no pun intended) I have 1 pill Jar running the Joule Thief LED as I discovered that the other had shorted out due to shoddy construction.
It lights up nicely but not super bright off just 1 battery.

It is starting to look like these will run for a looong time.  Which in that case puts me in the running for the OU prize as it needs to run 3 months and can add a liter of water a day.  I would need only cup per week to make 1 watt light go however.

Best Regards,
                  The Observer