New device for producing hydrogen fuel from humid air

Scientists have come up with a new prototype device that can harvest water from humid air, before splitting it into hydrogen and oxygen.

What’s more, it’s capable of operating in areas where the humidity – the concentration of water vapor in the air – is as low as 4 percent.

The device put together by the researchers is a prototype electrolyzer, powered by electricity from renewable energy, to break water into its elements, hydrogen and oxygen. In one test with a solar power source, five electrolyzers were working in parallel.

The electrodes sit on either side of a water harvesting unit, a sponge-like material that absorbs water from the air but which also doubles up as an electrolyte reservoir. Both electrodes are isolated from the air, which means hydrogen and oxygen can be collected as pure gases once the split has happened.

A number of different materials and setups were tested to get the prototype device working at a satisfactory level, and one of the configurations the researchers tried was able to operate successfully for 12 consecutive days.