Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) Powering MP3 Player

Science

Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. And he has a new best-of writing collection and “lazy man’s memoir,” called Borg Like Me.

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April 26th, 2011 2

Ran into this on the element14 site and thought it was interesting. It’s technology I don’t really know that much about. Maybe you all do.

This video is of a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) Hydrogen Fuel Cell (green color) powering a MP3 player. A PEM water electrolyser is show on the background (blue device) to generate pure hydrogen and oxygen gases on demand from distilled water.

PEM Fuel Cell powering a MP3 player

2 thoughts on “Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) Powering MP3 Player”

Anonymous says:

April 27th, 2011 at 4:20 pm

It’s worth noting every single time this comes up that the energy required for this step: “A PEM water electrolyser is show on the background (blue device) to generate pure hydrogen and oxygen gases on demand from distilled water.”

is necessarily always higher than the energy released in the fuel cell. That is: This is not a perpetual energy machine, and this is not a -source- of power. It’s a more convenient way of consuming it that allows different types of energy storage.

A “fuel cell” is basically just half of a battery – just add fuel (or ‘more electrolyte’).