Formic Acid fuel cells for MPG

1
Effect of Electrolyte Concentration on the
Performance of Batteries Student Krystal
Gmyrek Advisor Dr. Jayashree Ranga Department
of Chemistry and Physics and Salem State
University

• Results and Discussion (Continued)
• Zinc nitrate had no effect when paired with
  Potassium Chloride
• Zinc Nitrate was eliminated
• Common Salt (Sodium Chloride) was considered to
  replace Potassium Chloride
• Optimized concentrations of Sodium Chloride
  0.1M, 0.5M, 1.0M NaCl
• 1.0M NaCl was the optimal concentration of Sodium
  Chloride

• Effect of Potassium Chloride vs. Common Salt
  (Sodium Chloride)
• Here various concentrations of NaCl were studied
  to optimize the concentration of NaCl.
• Solution of 0.1M CuSO4 and 0.1M KCl
• Solution of 0.1M CuSO4 and 0.1M NaCl
• Solution of 0.1M CuSO4 and 0.5M NaCl
• Solution of 0.1M CuSO4 and 1.0M NaCl

Fig 1 Homemade battery with copper cathode and
zinc anode attached to multimeters for
monitoring the performance

• References
• Cheng, Jie, Yue-Hua Wen, Gao-Ping Cao, and
  Yu-Sheng Yang. "Influence of Zinc Ions in
  Electrolytes on the Stability of Nickel Oxide
  Electrodes for Single Flow Zincnickel
  Batteries." Journal of Power Sources 196.3
  (2011) 1589-592. Print.
• Mills, Allan A. "Early Voltaic Batteries An
  Evaluation in Modern Units and Application to the
  Work of Davy and Faraday." Annals of Science 60.4
  (2003) 373-98. Print.
• Acknowledgements
• Department of Chemistry and Physics for use of
  facilities, equipment, and chemicals
• Salem State University
• The Frederick A. Meier Science Award
• My grandfather Michael P. Stiebitz

Results and Discussion
Effect of Electrolyte Potassium Chloride vs
Common Salt
Effect of Electrolyte Zinc Nitrate
Fig 2 Effect of elimination of Zinc Nitrate on
the performance of batteries
Fig 3 Effect of replacing KCl with greener table
salt, NaCl, on the performance of batteries.