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US 6,299,744 B1Granted
Hydrogen generation by electrolysis of aqueous organic solutions
AssigneeCalifornia Institute of Technology
InventorsSekharipuram R. Narayanan, William Chun, Barbara Jeffries-Nakamura, Thomas I. Valdez
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Abstract
A device for electrolysis of an aqueous solution of an organic fuel. The electrolyte is a solid-state polymer membrane with anode and cathode catalysts on both surfaces for electro-oxidization and electro-reduction. A low-cost and portable hydrogen generator can be made based on the device with organic fuels such as methanol.
Claims25
An electrolysis cell comprising:
- a liquid organic fuel
- a housing having a reservoir holding the liquid organic fuel, an anode chamber configured to receive and circulate the liquid organic fuel from the reservoir, and a cathode chamber configured to collect hydrogen gas generated from electrolysis of the organic fuel;
- a solid electrolyte membrane having a anode and a cathode membrane surfaces, said membrane disposed in said housing and configured to partition said housing into said anode and cathode chambers, said membrane operable to conduct protons and exchange cations;
- an anode electrode formed on said anode membrane surface to interconnect said membrane and said anode chamber, said anode electrode operable to facilitate electro-oxidation of the organic fuel to generate protons;
- a cathode electrode formed on said cathode membrane surface to interconnect said membrane and said cathode chamber for electro-reduction of the protons to produce the hydrogen gas;
- and
- a DC power supply connected to said anode and cathode electrodes and operable to supply electrical power to said electro-oxidation and electro-reduction.
4 more elements
An electrical system, comprising:
- an electrolysis unit having an electrolysis cell which comprises a liquid organic fuel, a solid-state polymer electrolyte membrane, an anode and a cathode formed on opposing surfaces of said membrane, a reservoir holding the liquid organic fuel, an anode chamber configured to receive and circulate the liquid organic fuel from the reservoir, and a cathode chamber configured to collect hydrogen gas generated from electrolysis of the organic fuel;
- and
- an electrical power generating unit connected to said electrolysis unit and configured to receive said hydrogen gas from said electrolysis unit, said electrical power generating unit having a hydrogen fuel cell which consumes said hydrogen gas and produces electrical power.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.