US Army creates powder that recharges equipment in the field

said braka 11:18 PM
Today's soldiers trekking around on

missions need to carry pounds and pounds of electronic equipment with them, and then about that much again in batteries to power it all. The US Army has been trialing systems that harvest kinetic energy through the wearer's walking, and now a chance discovery might also help lighten the load. The US Army Research Laboratory has created an aluminum-based powder that produces a surprisingly high amount of energy when placed in water.

The unexpected discovery came when researchers mixed a nanogalvanic aluminum-based powder with water, and noticed that the water began bubbling away. On closer inspection, they soon realized the reaction was the product of hydrolysis, meaning the material was splitting the water into its composite molecules of oxygen and hydrogen.
Aluminum has been known to produce hydrogen in this manner, but it usually requires a catalyst in the form of heat, acid, electricity or other chemicals. But the new nanomaterial turns out to be an efficient mechanism for rapid and spontaneous hydrolysis of water.
"In our case, it does not need a catalyst," says Anit Giri, a physicist on the team. "Also, it is very fast. For example, we have calculated that one kilogram (2.2 lb) of aluminum powder can produce 220 kilowatts of power in just three minutes. That's a lot of power to run any electrical equipment. These rates are the fastest known without using catalysts such as an acid, base or elevated temperatures."