[buckminsterfullerene]

anyone know where i could get a cheap palladium sponge??? i want to use it in order to perhaps attempt to build a place to hold the hydrogen for my fuel cell project.  i read it could hold 900 times its volume in hydrogen and found quite amazing, only problem is that i needed 99.99% pure and the palladium found in a car is not where near that.

[jdurg]

You'll need to go and purchase some palladium bullion such as the Palladium Bars produced by Pamp Suisse, or the Palladium Maple Leaf bullion coins produced by the Royal Canadian Mint.  Be forewarned, however, that palladium costs approximately $250 per troy ounce so it is not exactly an inexpensive metal.

[P-man]

Which means that it isn't a very economical way to store hydrogen. And if you're doing a project on fuel cells, can we contact? I'm doing one too.

[billnotgatez]

Check out titanium instead of palladium.

[billnotgatez]

The use of hydrides is alluring. It may be a good way to get away from the dangers of storing and transporting of hydrogen. Normally I would say to start with the fuel cell first and work your way around this issue. In this case it may be prudent to work on the storage system and then on the fuel cell. Even if you use methane (natural gas) as a hydrogen source there is still a transportable storage issue. I have often wondered why gasoline systems were not rendered safer under the old engine systems.

[buckminsterfullerene]

will titanium work as well

i have found palladium sponge for about $99 US per gram (in the stock exchange is just half of the price of gold !!!) and for this to be effective it has to be atleast 99.99% pure and it has to be palladium sponge, which makes it a tid bit more expensive.  According to the 900 times its volume storage capacity would be around 900cm³ of hydrogen storage capacity per gram.
i have also been researching graphite plates, according to some of the sources that i have visited you can actually use that as a means to store hydrogen, and in much larger quantities too. there is only one problem in order to get the hydrogen out you need about 327^oC while in the palladium metal hydride you could get the hydrogen at a temperature that is around room temperature and at a good pressure too.  in my group we are planning to get a nano fuel cell capable of powering a one passenger car.  and we allready have a built fuel cell model, which we plan on using in a competition but they require you to find a method to store the hydrogen.
i am planning to get the hydrogen from the process of electrolisys powered perhapd by a solar panel that may or may not be placed on the car, depending on the situation.
perhaps if i could get a system that will focus the heat from the sun in a single point, such as a magnifying glass, which when i looked at the temperature when the sun is focused to be around 135^o in a matter of seconds before i put it away, i may be able to use the graphite method.  perhaps if it is possible a parabolic system, which i may have access to but do not know the range in temperature that it gets.
oh well thanks for your help, as it turns out i might not even use palladium anymore, though i have to inverstigate more.

[billnotgatez]

I tried to find the article that discusses titanium absorption of hydrogen but I can not.
Therefore forget I said titanium.

[buckminsterfullerene]

i think i saw it mentioned somewhere, i think it was one of the materials in a metal hydride that they were selling in a site, i will look at that some other time i guess.  but hey thanks