Women and science, Israel: PhD Technion student Shani Elitzur shows how to power a car or boat with water

PhD student Shani Elitzur with Prof. Alon Gany and Dr. Valery Rosenband demonstrate — at the Fine Rocket Propulsion Center, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering — how to power a model boat and car using just aluminum and water. The technology is based on a patented novel method, developed at the Fine Rocket Propulsion Center, for aluminum activation to react spontaneously with water. It enables compact, safe, and efficient hydrogen storage which can be used on demand.
The combination of this hydrogen production and storage technique with a PEM fuel cell can yield “green”, non-polluting electric energy with specific energy (energy per unit mass) greater by 10- to 15-fold than common lithium-ion batteries used today. The technology may be applied, for instance, for marine and automotive propulsion, for emergency electric generators, for power supply in remote communication posts, and for outdoors operations, providing convenient, safe, clean, and quiet operation.