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Sci-Toys.com has a neat demo on an easy-to-build fuel cell. Platinum wire electrodes in water are first used to separate hydrogen and oxygen from water via electrolysis. Then, with the trapped gases on the electrodes, the platinum wire acts as a catalyst to reverse the process, making water out of oxygen and hydrogen and creating electricity. They have some really nice diagrams showing the formation of the ions and flow of electrons. I wont reproduce those here, but take a look at them as a resource for the electrochemistry. Sci-Toys.com sells platinum coated wire for the electrodes.
http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/echem/fuel_cell/fuel_cell.html
https://www.scitoyscatalog.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PLST&Store_Code=SC
Those of you out there who wear soft contact lenses have a handy source of platinum, making it easy to run this experiment.
In our house, we always have an excess of the lens disinfecting containers: the containers last ~3 months, the solution runs out more quickly and you get a new container with each bottle. The black plastic thingy at the bottom of the lens holder is a platinum coated piece of plastic, the catalyst for the lens disinfection reaction. Two of these will be our electrodes. Note these are not great electrodes, the resistance across the face of the platinum-coated thingies is 1000 to 2000 ohms. But they are good enough to demonstrate the reaction.
http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/echem/fuel_cell/fuel_cell.html
https://www.scitoyscatalog.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PLST&Store_Code=SC
Those of you out there who wear soft contact lenses have a handy source of platinum, making it easy to run this experiment.
In our house, we always have an excess of the lens disinfecting containers: the containers last ~3 months, the solution runs out more quickly and you get a new container with each bottle. The black plastic thingy at the bottom of the lens holder is a platinum coated piece of plastic, the catalyst for the lens disinfection reaction. Two of these will be our electrodes. Note these are not great electrodes, the resistance across the face of the platinum-coated thingies is 1000 to 2000 ohms. But they are good enough to demonstrate the reaction.
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Here are two the two platinum electrodes and two pieces of plastic straw cut to hold the platinum pieces. Cut the straws for a nice wedge fit in a glass.
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Awsome..