Hydrogen Generation and Storage System
Level of Education of Students Involved
Undergraduate
Faculty Sponsor
Daniel Maguire
College
Engineering
Discipline(s)
Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Symposium Date
Spring 4-30-2026
Abstract
Helium’s inertness makes it a go to lifting gas for balloons despite being non-renewable and increasingly expensive. For micro-blimp design, Hydrogen is a better choice because it can be generated at home through hydrolysis. This reduces cost, increases convenience and allows for longer flight duration. My hydrolysis cell designs split water into hydrogen and oxygen using nickel electrodes and NaOH electrolyte. My first designs were much larger and used glass to contain the caustic electrolyte but these weren’t practical for the average hobbyist. I set out to design a much smaller cell around a common HDPE bottle cap. HDPE resists NaOH well and the standard cap enables the same design to work for larger bottles (8-128oz). The design relies on an ABS part, epoxy and a central silicone tube to separate the two gasses. The main benefit of the design is that only a single moving part (the solenoid) is needed to pump the hydrogen out of the cell. The oxygen side is closed to build pressure and force the hydrogen out. Once the water level on the hydrogen side has risen enough, the solenoid opens and resets the water level. This process takes longer as the hydrogen side pressure builds until eventually the cell times out. This generation method reduces cost and allows for safe and easy automation. The simple design could allow for direct integration into a blimp or oxy-hydrogen system.
Recommended Citation
Scott, Ranger, "Hydrogen Generation and Storage System" (2026). Symposium on Research and Creative Expression (SORCE). 1556.
https://scholar.valpo.edu/cus/1556
Biographical Information about Author(s)
I started designing hydrolysis cells in high school but I got back into in while working on my Tile Project (An AI assistant blimp). I spent two years refining the design with the goal of making a small, mass producible cell. This design makes blimp assistants possible by allowing users to automatically generate and store hydrogen for later use. More development is needed on the Tile Project but these cells have many other uses.