Theoretic foundation of Meyer's Cell: the electret effect

[Jeff Pearson]

I used the tubes to make a borax recitfier and then after they had a layer used them in WFC with no electrolyte. Was using a freq in the audio range in the WFC. This was back in January. My WFC project is on hold right now

[lamare]

I used the tubes to make a borax recitfier and then after they had a layer used them in WFC with no electrolyte. Was using a freq in the audio range in the WFC. This was back in January. My WFC project is on hold right now

Thanks fir reporting. Apparantly, the electrolyte needs to be maintained. The very first post on the old thread contains a quote which explains why:

Electrolytic capacitor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The principle of the electrolytic capacitor was discovered in 1886 by Charles Pollak, as part of his research into anodizing of aluminum and other metals. Pollack discovered that due to the thinness of the aluminum oxide layer produced, there was a very high capacitance between the aluminum and the electrolyte solution. A major problem was that most electrolytes tended to dissolve the oxide layer again when the power is removed, but he eventually found that sodium perborate (borax) would allow the layer to be formed and not attack it afterwards. He was granted a patent for the borax-solution aluminum electrolytic capacitor in 1897.

The first application of the technology was in making starting capacitors for single-phase alternating current (AC) motors. Although most electrolytic capacitors are polarized, that is, they can only be operated with direct current (DC), by separately anodizing aluminum plates and then interleaving them in a borax bath, it is possible to make a capacitor that can be used in AC systems.

Nineteenth and early twentieth century electrolytic capacitors bore little resemblance to modern types, their construction being more along the lines of a car battery. The borax electrolyte solution had to be periodically topped up with distilled water, again reminiscent of a lead acid battery.

I guess "most electrolytes" would include plain tapwater....


Update:
In other words: when working with Aluminum, you need to maintain the electrolyte in your cell during operation in order to prevent it from being dissolved during operation.

When working with Stainless Steel, it appears that Nickel is the element in the alloy with which one can grow dielectric layers, as reported by Ravi. Puharich also used a Nickel allow in his fuell cell. However, much less information is available about how to grow dielectric layers based on Nickel. OTOH, it may very well be possible that a Nickel (or perhaps Chromium) based dielectric layer does not have the disadvantage of getting dissolved when operating with (tap) water without an electrolyte salt.