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Latest Advances in
Hydrogen Storage
The Missing Key to the Hydrogen Economy
H2 STORAGE
DISCOVERIES RACE AHEAD OF PREDICTIONS AS NEW PROPERTIES OF HYDROGEN ASTOUND
SCIENTISTS! |
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Richard D. Masters |
"A hundred years from now, people are going to look back to
the days before we discovered the secret of hydrogen storage in carbon and
say,
'Why didn't they think of that sooner? It seems so simple, now!
It was so cheap! It was so easy! And it ended the reign of
Fossil Fuel forever! ' " |
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HUGE CARBON STORAGE
BREAKTHROUGH |
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“When we started doing experiments,
we realized the metal interaction doesn’t just increase the temperature at
which hydrogen can be stored, but
it also increases the density above that in solid hydrogen. This is
absolutely the first time this has been encountered without having to use
pressure.” |
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Center for Neutron Research scientist
Craig Brown, Team Leader |

Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) |
GREATEST LOW-PRESSURE
HYDROGEN STORAGE DENSITY
YET ACHIEVED!
More Solid than Solid: A Potential Hydrogen-Storage Compound
US Institute of Standards & Technology
April 1, 2008 |
One of the key engineering challenges to
building a clean, efficient, hydrogen-powered car is how to design the
fuel tank. Storing enough raw hydrogen for a reasonable driving range
would require either impractically high pressures for gaseous hydrogen or
extremely low temperatures for liquid hydrogen. In a new paper researchers
at the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Center for Neutron
Research (NCNR) have demonstrated that a novel class of materials could
enable a practical hydrogen fuel tank.
A research team from NIST, the University of Maryland and the
California Institute of Technology studied metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).
One of several classes of materials that can bind and release hydrogen
under the right conditions, they have some distinct advantages over
competitors. In principle they could be engineered so that refueling is as
easy as pumping gas at a service station is today, and MOFs don’t require
the high temperatures (110 to 500 C) some other materials need to release
hydrogen.
In particular, the team examined MOF-74, a porous crystalline
powder developed at the University of California at Los Angeles. MOF-74
resembles a series of tightly packed straws comprised of mostly carbon
atoms with columns of zinc ions running down the inside walls. A gram of
the stuff has about the same surface area as two basketball courts.
The researchers used neutron scattering and gas adsorption
techniques to determine that at 77 K (-196 C),
MOF-74 can adsorb more hydrogen than any unpressurized framework structure
studied to date—packing the molecules in more densely than they would be
if frozen in a block.
NCNR scientist Craig Brown says that, though his team doesn’t
understand exactly what allows the hydrogen to bond in this fashion, they
think the zinc center has some interesting properties.
“When we started doing experiments, we realized the metal
interaction doesn’t just increase the temperature at which hydrogen can be
stored, but it also increases the density above that in solid hydrogen,”
Brown says. “This is absolutely the first time this has been encountered
without having to use pressure.”
Although the liquid-nitrogen temperature of MOF-74 is not
exactly temperate, it’s easier to reach than the temperature of solid
hydrogen (-269 C), and one of the goals of this research is to achieve
energy densities great enough to be as economical as gasoline at ambient,
and thus less costly, temperatures. MOF-74 is a step forward in terms of
understanding energy density, but there are other factors left to be dealt
with that, once addressed, could further increase the temperature at which
the fuel can be stored. Fully understanding the physics of the interaction
might allow scientists to develop means for removing refrigeration or
insulation, both of which are costly in terms of fuel economy, fuel
production, or both.
The work was funded in part through the
Department of Energy's Hydrogen Sorption Center of Excellence.
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IS PROKHOROV EYEING
CARBON STORAGE? |
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Hydrogen Fuel is the Way Ahead, Says Oligarch
Mark Leftly The
Independent (UK) March
23, 2008 |
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Mr. Prokhorov told The Independent on
Sunday that the UK's commitment to
a nuclear energy programme overlooked research that suggests hydrogen
technology could be a more efficient option. ..."A compelling
advantage of energy produced from hydrogen fuel cells is that it can,
thanks to nanotechnology advances, be stored. It can therefore be produced
to coincide with consumption peaks." |
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BREAKTHROUGH!
18%Wt. Hydrogen in Hydride?
A European research team has
discovered a new form of a compound that could possibly release 18% wt.
hydrogen in mild conditions.
This discovery is completely
unexpected.
It was not predicted by theory!
New Form Of Hydride Stimulates Research On Hydrogen Storage, Hydrogen Cars
Science Daily
December 5, 2007 |
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Researchers at the Swiss-Norwegian experimental stations (beamlines) at
the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility are currently studying several
compounds of light elements with hydrogen and the different forms they
take at different pressure and temperature. Lithium borohydride, LiBH4, is
one of the compounds they study as it has a high weight content of
hydrogen (18%). The new form of this compound, which scientists have just
discovered, is promising because it appears to be unstable. Until today,
all the known forms of this material are too stable, which means that they
don’t let the hydrogen go.
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"...a nonprecious metal route to
the design of new biohybrid architectures and building blocks for
hydrogen-related technologies." |
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BREAKTHROUGH!

Cheap Hydrogen Power
Gets a Nanotube Boost
Robert Adler New Scientist (UK)
November 21, 2007
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Nanotubes normally absorb and re-emit light at
characteristic wavelengths but, after hydrogenase is added, this
photoluminescence disappears, suggesting that the enzyme is feeding
electrons into the nanotubes as it catalyses the oxidation hydrogen. The
team found that they could control the catalytic reaction by changing the
pH balance of the solution or the amount of hydrogen in it. As expected,
when they added oxygen, which inactivates hydrogenase, the nanotubes lit
up again. In the absence of oxygen, the hydrogenase-nanotube connections
continued to work for up to a week.
more |
Background: In May2007, a team from
the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory led by Michael Heben
announced significant progress in reducing the amount of platinum required
in electrolysis: |
"We are interested in developing the scientific principles to control
catalysis and electrocatalysis on the nanoscale. We seek to design
interfaces and electrodes using nanoscience to permit; (1) highly
efficient and robust catalyst utilization, (2) fundamental investigations
of the key reaction steps which are relevant to fuel- forming and
fuel-cell reactions, and (3) a route away from precious metal catalysts.
We approach this problem using carbon single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs)...
"An increase in the Pt catalyst utilization efficiency
(currently less than 30%) would dramatically decrease the amount of
catalyst needed in current PEMFCs. To effectively utilize the Pt catalyst
in a PEMFC, the catalyst must have simultaneous access to the gas, the
electron conducting medium, and the proton conducting medium. Typically,
the catalyst layer for a conventional Pt-catalyzed fuel cell is prepared
by an ink-process. Here, Pt-supported carbon particles are blended with
Nafion in order to allow for the simultaneous access of the Pt catalyst to
the electron conducting and proton conducting media. A common issue with
this conventional blending process has been that the proton transport
material, Nafion, tends to isolate the carbon support particles in
the catalyst layer, leading to poor electron transport throughout the
cell. The use of SWNT-supported electrocatalysts in PEMFCs has the
potential to eliminate this problem and improve the utilization efficiency
of the electrocatalyst. Preliminary results show that the current
associated with oxygen reduction on the Pt/SWNT electrodes with [6
micrograms of platinum per square centimeter] is only 20% lower than g/cm
the current for the Pt/SWNT electrode with [18 micrograms of platinum per
square centimeter.] This result suggests that the Pt/ SWNT interaction has
a pronounced affect on the kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction. "
Carbon Nanotube Materials for Substrate Enhanced Control of Catalytic
Activity
Michael J. Heben , Anne C. Dillon, Chaiwat Engtrakul, Se-Hee
Lee NREL
Now another team from NREL, again led by Michael Heben, has discovered a
"new nanotube physics" that combines nanotubes with peculiar
metalloenzymes called hydrogenases. Although discovered in the 1930s as
the critical engine of anaerobic metabolism (life in the absence of
oxygen), these enzymes were brought to public attention in 2000 by
Dr. Tasios Melis of UC Berkeley who discovered a method of stimulating
anaerobic hydrogen production from algae. Then on September 10, 2007, Heben and his team announced that they had developed a "biohybrid"
technique using single-walled carbon nanotubes to entirely replace the
precious metals previously required for catalyzing oxygen/hydrogen
reactions, and creating, somewhat surprisingly, robust,
biologically-driven nanoscale electron pumps that may possibly be
harnessed to produce useable power. -- RDM
Wiring-Up Hydrogenase with Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
Timothy J. McDonald, Drazenka Svedruzic, Yong-Hyun
Kim, Jeffrey L. Blackburn, S. B. Zhang, Paul W. King and Michael J. Heben
NREL Nano Letters |
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Abstract: Many envision a future where hydrogen is the
centerpiece of a sustainable, carbon-free energy supply. For example, the
energy in sunlight may be stored by splitting water into H2 and O2 using
inorganic semiconductors and photoelectrochemical approaches or with
artificial photosynthetic systems that seek to mimic the light absorption,
energy transfer, electron transfer, and redox catalysis that occurs in
green plants. Unfortunately, large scale deployment of artificial
water-splitting technologies may be impeded by the need for the large
amounts of precious metals required to catalyze the multielectron
water-splitting reactions. Nature provides a variety of microbes that can
activate the dihydrogen bond through the catalytic activity of [NiFe] and
[FeFe] hydrogenases, and photobiological approaches to water splitting
have been advanced. One may also consider a biohybrid approach; however,
it is difficult to interface these sensitive metalloenzymes to other
materials and systems. Here we show that surfactant-suspended carbon
single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) spontaneously self-assemble with [FeFe]
hydrogenases in solution to form catalytically active biohybrids.
Photoluminescence excitation and Raman spectroscopy studies show that
SWNTs act as molecular wires to make electrical contact to the
biocatalytic region of hydrogenase. Hydrogenase mediates electron
injection into nanotubes having appropriately positioned lowest occupied
molecular orbital levels when the H2 partial pressure is varied. The
hydrogenase is strongly attached to the SWNTs, so mass transport effects
are eliminated and the absolute potential of the electronic levels of the
nanotubes can be unambiguously measured. Our findings reveal new nanotube
physics and represent the first example of "wiring-up" an hydrogenase with
another nanoscale material. This latter advance offers a nonprecious metal
route to the design of new biohybrid architectures and building blocks for
hydrogen-related technologies.
more |
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H2 STORAGE
BREAKTHROUGH!
14% CLAIMED |
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Adam Phillips, left, and Bellave S. Shivaram
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University of Virginia Scientists Discover Record-Breaking Hydrogen
Storage Materials
University of Virginia
November 9, 2007 |
Scientists at the University of Virginia
have discovered a new class of hydrogen storage materials that could make
the storage and transportation of energy much more efficient — and
affordable — through higher-performing hydrogen fuel cells.
Bellave S. Shivaram and Adam B. Phillips, the U.Va.
physicists who invented the new materials, will present their finding at 8
p.m., Monday, Nov. 12, at the International Symposium on Materials Issues
in a Hydrogen Economy at the Omni Hotel in Richmond, Va.
“In terms of hydrogen absorption, these materials could prove
a world record,” Phillips said. “Most materials today absorb only 7 to 8
percent of hydrogen by weight, and only at cryogenic [extremely low]
temperatures. Our materials absorb hydrogen up to 14 percent by weight at
room temperature. By absorbing twice as much hydrogen, the new materials
could help make the dream of a hydrogen economy come true.”
In the quest for alternative fuels, U.Va.’s new materials
potentially could provide a highly affordable solution to energy storage
and transportation problems with a wide variety of applications. They
absorb a much higher percentage of hydrogen than predecessor materials
while exhibiting faster kinetics at room temperature and much lower
pressures, and are inexpensive and simple to produce.
“These materials are the next generation in hydrogen fuel
storage materials, unlike any others we have seen before,” Shivaram said.
“They have passed every litmus test that we have performed, and we believe
they have the potential to have a large impact.”
The inventors believe the novel materials will translate to
the marketplace and are working with the U.Va. Patent Foundation to patent
their discovery.
“The U.Va. Patent Foundation is very excited to be working
with a material that one day may be used by millions in everyday life,”
said Chris Harris, senior licensing manager for the U.Va. Patent
Foundation. “Dr. Phillips and Dr. Shivaram have made an incredible
breakthrough in the area of hydrogen absorption.”
Phillips’s and Shivaram’s
research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the U.S.
Department of Energy.
About the University of Virginia Patent Foundation
The University of Virginia Patent Foundation is a
not-for-profit corporation that serves to promote the translation of U.Va.
technologies to the global marketplace by evaluating, protecting and
licensing intellectual property generated in the course of research at
U.Va. The Patent Foundation reviews and evaluates over 150 inventions per
year and has generated more than $75 million in licensing revenue since
its formation in 1978. For more information about the Patent Foundation,
its services or technology transfer, visit www.uvapf.org. |
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HYDROGEN STORAGE
BREAKTHROUGH
Hypercrosslinked polyanilines with nanoporous structure and high surface
area: potential adsorbents for hydrogen storage
Jonathan Germain, Jean M. J. Fre´chet and Frantisek Svec
Journal of Materials Chemistry, The Royal Society of Chemistry
October 18, 2007 |
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Nanoporous polyanilines
can be prepared using hypercrosslinking of commercially available
polyaniline with diiodoalkanes or formaldehyde. Some of these polymers
exhibit specific surface areas exceeding 630 m2 g -1
that are unprecedented for this class of polymers. ...Our preliminary
experiments indicate that these materials have a certain potential for
hydrogen storage. Although their overall hydrogen storage capacity at 77 K
is currently lower than that of our hypercrosslinked polystyrene, they
offer the highest enthalpy of adsorption of any air-stable sorbenttype
hydrogen storage material. Further optimization of reaction conditions is
expected to lead to materials with much higher surface areas and therefore
enhanced hydrogen storage capacities.
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A small pellet of solid ammonia borane
(240 mg), as shown, is capable of storing relatively large quantities of
hydrogen
(0.5 liter) in a very small volume. |

Ammonia borane molecule
Pellets of Power Designed to Deliver H2
Pacific Northwest National Lab
August 2007 |
The Department of Energy's Chemical Hydrogen Storage
Center of Excellence is investigating a hydrogen storage medium that holds
promise in meeting long-term targets for transportation use. As part of
the center, PNNL scientists are using solid ammonia borane, or AB,
compressed into small pellets to serve as a hydrogen storage material.
Each milliliter of AB weighs about three-quarters of a gram and harbors up
to 1.8 liters of hydrogen. Researchers expect that a fuel system using
small AB pellets will occupy less space and be lighter in weight than
systems using pressurized hydrogen gas, thus enabling fuel cell vehicles
to have room, range and performance comparable to today's automobiles.
..."Once hydrogen from the storage material is depleted, the
AB pellets must be safely and efficiently regenerated by way of chemical
processing," said PNNL scientist Don Camaioni. "This 'refueling' method
requires chemically digesting or breaking down the solid spent fuel into
chemicals that can be recycled back to AB with hydrogen."
more |
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BREAKTHROUGH

Carbon Nanohorns 'A Better Prospect'
for Hydrogen Storage Applications
Fuel Cell Today
June 8, 2007 |
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"The results show that
hydrogen interacts far more strongly with such carbonous nanostructures
than it does to carbon nanotubes, suggesting that nanohorns and related
nanostructures may offer significantly better prospects as light-weight
media for hydrogen storage applications," the researchers said.
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Nanotechnology Breakthrough in Hydrogen Storage
Plastics in Packaging
June 5, 2007 |
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Researchers from
Bilkent University in Turkey and the US National Institute of Standards and
Technology believe that they can use nanotechnology to create plastics that will
'package' hydrogen in an unusual way. The researchers believe that by attaching
titanium atoms to opposite ends of an ethylene molecule they can form a complex
structure that will absorb 10 hydrogen molecules. This would double the minimum
target set by the US Department of Energy for economically practical storage of
hydrogen in a solid state material.
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Hydrogen Storage Capacity of Titanium Met-cars
N Akman, E Durgun, T Yildirim and S Ciraci
Journal of Physics-Condensed Matter
September 26, 2006
The adsorption of hydrogen molecules on the
titanium metallocarbohedryne (met-car) cluster has been investigated by using
the first-principles plane wave method. We have found that, while a single Ti
atom at the corner can bind up to three hydrogen molecules, a single Ti atom on
the surface of the cluster can bind only one hydrogen molecule. Accordingly, a
Ti8C12 met-car can bind up to 16 H2 molecules and hence can be considered as a
high-capacity hydrogen storage medium.
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Combinatorial Search for Optimal Hydrogen-Storage Nanomaterials Based on
Polymers
Hoonkyung Lee, Woon Ih Choi, and Jisoon Ihm
Physical Review Letters #97
August 4, 2006
An optimal material we identify is Ti-decorated cis-polyacetylene
with reversibly usable gravimetric and volumetric density of 7.6 wt %
and 63 kg/m3, respectively, near ambient conditions.
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Transition Metal-Decorated
Nanotubes and C 60; High-Capacity Hydrogen Storage Medium
Taner Yildirim NIST
April 25,
2005
Here using first-principles density
functional theory, we show that a single light-transition metal such as Ti
absorbed on a SWNT or C60 can dissociate hydrogen molecules with zero activation
energy barrier and strongly bonds not ONE, not TWO, not THREE but FOUR H2
molecules! At high metal coverage, the system is able to reversible absorb
hydrogen molecules up to 8 wt%!
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Unlocking the Secrets of Titanium, a “Key” that Assists Hydrogen Storage
Brookhaven National Lab
July 23, 2004
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Nanotech News at
NanoAPEX |
"This could be a major
step towards the breakthrough that the fuel cell industry and the transport
sector have waited for."
Professor Peter Edwards, University of Oxford
Project Coordinator, UK Sustainable
Hydrogen Energy Consortium
LITHIUM:
UK Announces Breakthrough in Hydrogen Storage
Scenta (UK)
May 23, 2007

Prototype magnetic refrigerator at the
University of Victoria
50% Efficiency in sight for cryogenic hydrogen!
Efficient Liquid Hydrogen Storage
Gasworld
March 15, 2007
Studies using magnetic refrigeration to
efficiently obtain
liquid hydrogen are producing promising results
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HSM Announces Breakthrough Material
for Solid Hydrogen Storage Systems
HMS Systems (Canada)
March 7, 2007 |
HSM through its Research and License
Agreement with the University of New Brunswick (UNB) is collaborating with
Dr. Craig Jensen, a leader with over 25 years experience in the field of
novel hydride materials and his team at the University of Hawaii.
“Aluminum is the preferred material because it has many
of the properties that are a pre requisite to be considered viable for
hydrogen storage applications” said Dr. Jensen. Most notably these
materials contain 10.1 wt % hydrogen and undergo dehydrogenation at
appreciable rates at temperatures below 100 C. However, the very low
enthalpy of dehydrogenation of alane prohibits subsequent re-hydrogenation
through standard gas-solid techniques except at very high pressures or
very low temperatures. Dr. Sean McGrady, lead researcher on the project
who has over two decades in the handling of reactive inorganic materials,
adds that the extremely low solubility of gaseous hydrogen in conventional
organic solvents also vitiates a solution-based approach.
“Re-hydrogenation of aluminum using a supercritical fluid potentially
offers a workable approach since the fluid can act as a solvent, at the
same time remaining completely miscible with permanent gases like
hydrogen.” |
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STORAGE
BREAKTHROUGH!
Record-breaking methane storage
system derived from corncobs may encourage
mass-market natural gas automobiles
- and ultimately hydrogen vehicles!

Researchers at the University of
Missouri-Columbia and the Midwest Research Institute in Kansas City have
developed a method to convert corncob waste into a carbon "sponge" with
nanoscale pores. The new material can store large quantities of natural
gas and can be formed into a variety of shapes, ideal characteristics for
next-generation gas storage tanks on methane-powered automobiles.
Credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation |
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From Farm Waste to Fuel Tanks
National Science Foundation
February 16, 2007
Researchers have developed a
corncob-derived carbon "sponge" that can store natural gas.
Using corncob waste as a starting material, researchers have
created carbon briquettes with complex nanopores capable of storing
natural gas at an unprecedented density of 180 times their own volume and
at one seventh the pressure of conventional natural gas tanks.
The breakthrough, announced today in Kansas City, Mo., is a
significant step forward in the nationwide effort to fit more automobiles
to run on methane, an abundant fuel that is domestically produced and
cleaner burning than gasoline.
Supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF)
Partnership for Innovation program, researchers at the University of
Missouri-Columbia (MU) and Midwest Research Institute (MRI) in Kansas City
developed the technology. The technology has been incorporated into a test
bed installed on a pickup truck used regularly by the Kansas City Office
of Environmental Quality.
The briquettes are the first technology to meet the 180 to 1
storage to volume target set by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2000, a
long-term goal of principal project leader Peter Pfeifer of MU.
"We are very excited about this breakthrough because it may
lead to a flat and compact tank that would fit under the floor of a
passenger car, similar to current gasoline tanks," said Pfeifer. "Such a
technology would make natural gas a widely attractive alternative fuel for
everyone."
According to Pfeifer, the absence of such a flatbed tank has
been the principal reason why natural gas, which costs significantly less
than gasoline and diesel and burns more cleanly, is not yet widely used as
a fuel for vehicles.
Standard natural gas storage systems use high-pressure
natural gas that has been compressed to a pressure of 3600 pounds per
square inch and bulky tanks that can take up the space of an entire car
trunk. The carbon briquettes contain networks of pores and channels that
can hold methane at a high density without the cost of extreme
compression, ultimately storing the fuel at a pressure of only 500 pounds
per square inch, the pressure found in natural gas pipelines.
The low pressure of 500 pounds per square inch is central for
crafting the tank into any desired shape, so ultimately, fuel storage
tanks could be thin-walled, slim, rectangular structures affixed to the
underside of the car, not taking up room in the vehicle.
Pfeifer and his colleagues at MU and MRI discovered that that
fractal pore spaces (spaces created by repetition of similar patterns at
different scales) are remarkably efficient at storing natural gas.
"Our project is the first time a carbon storage material has
been made from corncobs, an abundantly available waste product in the
Midwest," said Pfeifer. "The carbon briquettes are made from the cobs that
remain after the kernels have been harvested. The state of Missouri alone
could supply the raw material for more than 10 million cars per year. It
would be a unique opportunity to bring corn to the market for alternative
fuels--corn kernels for ethanol production, and corncob for natural gas
tanks."
The test pickup truck, part of a fleet of more than 200
natural gas vehicles operated by Kansas City, has been in use since
mid-October and the researchers are monitoring the technology's
performance, from mileage data to measurements of the stability of the
briquettes.
In addition to efforts to commercialize the technology, the
researchers are now focusing on the next generation briquette, one that
will store more natural gas and cost less to produce. Pfeifer believes
this next generation of briquette might even hold promise for storing
hydrogen. |
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BREAKTHROUGH!
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Results of modeling studies indicate that attaching
titanium atoms (blue) to the ends of an ethylene molecule (yellow-green)
will result in a capsule-shaped complex that absorbs 10 hydrogen molecules
(red). The results open a new avenue in the pursuit of materials that will
enable efficient solid-state storage of hydrogen.
Credit:
Taner Yildirim, NIST.
Ethylene Suggested for Hydrogen Storage
National Institute for
Standards and Technology
December 7, 2006
The absorbed hydrogen molecules account for about 14 percent of the weight
of the titanium-ethylene complex. That’s about double the Department of
Energy’s minimum target of 6.5 percent for economically practical storage
of hydrogen in a solid state material.
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BREAKTHROUGH!
Reversible, Metal-Free
Hydrogen Activation
Gregory C. Welch, Ronan R. San Juan, Jason D. Masuda, Douglas W. Stephan
Science Magazine November 17, 2006
Although reversible covalent
activation of molecular hydrogen (H2) is a common reaction at transition
metal centers, it has proven elusive in compounds of the lighter elements.
We report that the compound (C6H2Me3)2PH(C6F4)BH(C6F5)2 (Me, methyl),
which we derived through an unusual reaction involving dimesitylphosphine
substitution at a para carbon of tris(pentafluorophenyl) borane, cleanly
loses H2 at temperatures above 100°C. Preliminary kinetic studies reveal
this process to be first order. Remarkably, the dehydrogenated product
(C6H2Me3)2P(C6F4)B(C6F5)2 is stable and reacts with 1 atmosphere of H2 at
25°C to reform the starting complex. Deuteration studies were also carried
out to probe the mechanism. |
A New Record for Absorbing Hydrogen
New Scientist
November 7, 2006
Nanoporous polymers should also be far cheaper to
produce than other materials currently being considered, such as carbon
nanotubes, as they can be made simply using existing manufacturing techniques.
13 European Research Institutions Unite to Develop
Solid State Hydrogen Storage Technology
EU Marie Curie Research Training Network
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Alloy of Hydrogen & Oxygen Made From Water!
Carnegie Institution October
26, 2006 |
Washington, D.C. – Water, the only indispensable ingredient of life, is
just about the most versatile stuff on Earth. Depending on its temperature
we can heat our homes with it, bathe in it, and even strap on skates and
glide across it, to name only the most common of its many forms. When
subjected to high pressures, however, water can take any of more than 15
different forms.
Researchers have now used x-rays to dissociate water at high
pressure to form a solid mixture—an alloy—of molecular oxygen and
molecular hydrogen. The work, by a multi-institutional team* that includes
Russell Hemley and Ho-kwang Mao of Carnegie’s Geophysical Laboratory,
appears in the October 27 issue of Science.
The researchers subjected a sample of water to extremely high
pressures—about 170,000 times the pressure at sea level (17 Gigapascals)—using
a diamond anvil, and zapped it with high-energy x-rays. Under these
conditions, nearly all the water molecules split apart and re-formed into
a solid alloy of O2 and H2. X-radiation proved to be the key to cleaving
the O-H bonds in water; without it, the water remained in a high-pressure
form of ice known as ice VII—one of at least 15 such variants of ice that
exist under high pressure and variable temperature conditions.
“We managed to hit on just the right level of x-ray energy
input,” explained Hemley. “Any higher, and the radiation tends to pass
right through the sample. Any lower, and the radiation is largely absorbed
by the diamonds in our pressure apparatus.”
This rather narrow range of energy requirement explains why,
in hundreds of previous high-pressure x-ray experiments, the breakdown
reaction had gone undiscovered: most such experiments tend to use more
energetic x-rays. The experiments also required long, multiple-hour
irradiation with x-rays; such long exposures had not been attempted
before.
The researchers put the alloy through its paces, subjecting
it to a range of pressure, temperature, and bombardment with x-ray and
laser radiation. As long as the sample remained under pressure equivalent
to about 10,000 times atmospheric pressure at sea level (1 Gigapascal), it
stood up to this punishment. Although the substance is clearly a
crystalline solid, more experiments are needed to determine its precise
crystal structure.
“The new radiation chemistry at high pressure was
surprising,” said lead author Wendy Mao of Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“The new alloy containing the incompatible oxygen and hydrogen molecules
will be a highly energetic material.” |
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Ammonia
The Key to
a Hydrogen
Economy |
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Iowa Energy Center
Thursday and
Friday, October 13-14, 2005
Argonne National Laboratory
The Great Plains Wind Resource
Bill Leighty, Leighty Foundation
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Efficient Ammonia Production
Jim Gosnell, KBR
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Non-Equatorial Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTC) Applications
William Kumm, Arctic Energies, Ltd.
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Ammonia Transportation, Distribution & Logistics
Greg Hutchison, Royster Clark
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Ammonia Fuel Cell Systems
Jason C. Ganley, Howard University
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Direct Ammonia Fuel Cells for Distributed Power Generation and CHP
Andy McFarlan, Natural Resources Canada
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Ammonia is the Fuel for the Hydrogen-Economy
Karl Kordesch, University of Graz, Austria
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Internal Combustion Engines and Ammonia (Second Report)
Ted Hollinger, Hydrogen Engine Center, Inc.
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Anhydrous Ammonia, Safe Handling in the Retail Fertilizer Market
Ron Demaray, RCI
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Opportunities and Challenges for an Ammonia Fuel Economy
John Holbrook, Pacific Northwest national Laboratory
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Iowa Company Turns to Ammonia
to Solve the Hydrogen Storage Problem
Hydrogen Engine Center
September 19, 2006
Making Engines to Run On Hydrogen, Ammonia
The Chief Engineer
September 19, 2006
Can Ammonia Engine Make Gas Obsolete?
Wired News
May 20, 2006
Internal Combustion Engines and Ammonia
Ted Hollinger
Hydrogen Engine Center
2005 |
NANOSPRINGS:
Researchers Work on Hydrogen Energy
Andy Jones The Daily Evergreen (WA)
September 24, 2006
In the past decade, 17
countries have announced national programs to develop hydrogen energy,
according to the September issue of Scientific American. In North America,
more than 30 states and several Canadian provinces are developing similar
plans, although the U.S. has not implemented a national program.
Another issue with hydrogen protection has been the use of gas emissions
required to produce the fuels, McCluskey said. To reduce emissions, other
alternative sources, such as solar cells and wind turbines, need to be
mass-produced to provide the energy.
British Scientists Develop New Hydrogen Storage Material
Fuel Cell Today (UK)
September
8, 2006
Getting Hydrogen Storage Just Right
Chemical Science
August 10, 2006
|
HYDROGEN STORAGE
BREAKTHROUGH!
“Professor Ihm’s remarkable discovery will
immediately open the era of hydrogen-fueled vehicles.”
-- Kim
Jong-won, Director
High Efficiency Hydrogen Energy Development Project Group |
|

Jisoon Ihm
|
South Korean Scientists Discover Matter for Hydrogen Storage
The Hankyoreh (South Korea)
August 5, 2006 |
|
Professor Ihm discovered that the hydrogen can be stored in
solid matter in normal temperatures and pressures by attaching a titanium
atom to a polymer. Hydrogen, the gaseous matter, can be stably stored in
the material, allowing for its immediate application in hydrogen vehicles.
With the storage efficiency for commercialization of Professor Lim’s new
material at 7.6 percent, surpassing that targeted by the U.S. Department
of Energy 6.5 percent, his discovery is expected to draw interest from
automobile makers worldwide.
|
|

Nanodiamonds Shed H2 in Mystery Process
Penn State June 23,
2006 |
"The idea we explored was based on ball milling graphite processes found
in the hydrogen storage literature," said Angela D. Lueking, assistant
professor of energy and geoenvironmental engineering. "We substituted
anthracite coal for graphite because it is abundant and inexpensive. Now,
with 20/20 hindsight, we are struck by the fact that coal gasification is
currently the most economical way to produce hydrogen."
..."Ball milling imparts a lot of energy to the slurry," said
Lueking. "There is high pressure and temperature in every impact of the
balls on the slurry, but we do not really understand the structural
changes in the carbon that occur in the process."
Lueking is puzzled because, unlike the graphite experiments,
her anthracite experiment has hydrogen gas evolving from the mixture at
room temperature. The hydrogen is either trapped in the material in a
tight pore structure or a new carbon structure is being formed. The
hydrogen outgassing continued for about a year and increased with addition
of moderate heat.
"At first we thought the mass spectrograph was broken because
hydrogen was just coming off," said Lueking. "We tried another mass spec
and the same thing happened."
Wanting to know the structure of the ball milled product, and
looking for carbon nanotubes, the researchers used transmission electron
microscopy to investigate the small particles.
"When Gutierrez asked, 'do you know you have diamonds here?'
our answer was no – we were not expecting to make diamonds,” Lueking said.
What the researchers had were Bucky diamonds, a
nanocrystalline diamond surrounded by onion–like layers of graphite.
Diamonds are a natural form of pure carbon, but with a differing molecular
structure than graphite or the graphite-like coal.
"Bucky diamonds are relatively unexplored in terms of
applications," said Lueking. "Nanocrystalline diamonds, however, have
major industrial uses as abrasives and in electronics. These nanodiamonds
are usually created by exploding TNT in a carbon source."
more |
GAME CHANGER?
STUNNING DEVELOPMENT IN
HYDROGEN STORAGE
"This storage technology allows
hydrogen, normally a gas, to be stored and transported at normal temperatures in
a liquid form like conventional fuels."
Guido Pez, Chief Scientist
Corporate Science and Technology Center at
Air Products
Air Products Researchers Receive
Department of Energy Hydrogen Program Award
Air Products
June 13, 2006
Reversible Liquid Carriers for an Integrated Production, Storage and Delivery of
Hydrogen DOE Hydrogen Program 2005
Guido P. Pez, Bernard Toseland
Air Products & Chemicals
Hydrogen Storage
by the Reversible Hydrogenation of Liquid and Solid Substrates
Alan C. Cooper and Guido P. Pez Air Products
May 25, 2004
Design and Development of New Carbon-Based Sorbent Systems
for an Effective Containment of Hydrogen
Alan Cooper, Guido Pez, Hansong Cheng, Aaron Scott, Don Fowler, Atteye
Abdourazak Air Products and Chemicals
DOE Hydrogen Program Annual Progress Report 2004
NANOMIX:
Carbon Storage Breakthrough?
Nanomix
June 12, 2006
NEW
DOE
SOLICITATION
Due Date: May 10, 2006
Research and Development for On-Board Vehicular Hydrogen Storage
|

Professor Omar Yaghi
UCLA, University of
Michigan Chemists Report Progress in Quest to Use Hydrogen as Fuel for
Cars & Electronic Devices
University of California, Los Angeles
March 6, 2006
Chemists at UCLA and the University
of Michigan report an advance toward the goal of cars that run on hydrogen
rather than gasoline. While the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that
practical hydrogen fuel will require concentrations of at least 6.5
percent, the chemists have achieved concentrations of 7.5 percent — nearly
three times as much as has been reported previously — but at a very low
temperature (77 degrees Kelvin).
The research, scheduled to be published in late March in the
Journal of the American Chemical Society, could lead to a hydrogen fuel
that powers not only cars, but laptop computers, cellular phones, digital
cameras and other electronic devices as well.
"We have a class of materials in which we can change the
components nearly at will," said Omar Yaghi, UCLA professor of chemistry,
who conducted the research with colleagues at the University of Michigan.
"There is no other class of materials where one can do that. The exciting
discovery we are reporting is that, using a new material, we have
identified a clear path for how to get above seven percent of the
material's weight in hydrogen."
The materials, which Yaghi invented in the early 1990s, are
called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), pronounced "moffs," which are like
scaffolds made of linked rods — a structure that maximizes the surface
area. MOFs, which have been described as crystal sponges, have pores,
openings on the nanoscale in which Yaghi and his colleagues can store
gases that are usually difficult to store and transport. MOFs can be made
highly porous to increase their storage capacity; one gram of a MOF has
the surface area of a football field! Yaghi's laboratory has made more
than 500 MOFs, with a variety of properties and structures.
"We have achieved 7.5 percent hydrogen; we want to achieve
this percent at ambient temperatures," said Yaghi, a member of the
California NanoSystems Institute. "We can store significantly more
hydrogen with the MOF material than without the MOF."
MOFs can be made from low-cost ingredients, such as zinc
oxide — a common ingredient in sunscreen — and terephthalate, which is
found in plastic soda bottles.
"MOFs will have many applications. Molecules can go in and
out of them unobstructed. We can make polymers inside the pores with
well-defined and predictable properties. There is no limit to what
structures we can get, and thus no limit to the applications."
In the push to develop hydrogen fuel cells to power cars,
cell phones and other devices, one of the biggest challenges has been
finding ways to store large amounts of hydrogen at the right temperatures
and pressures. Yaghi and his colleagues have now demonstrated the ability
to store large amounts of hydrogen at the right pressure; in addition,
Yaghi has ideas about how to modify the rod-like components to store
hydrogen at ambient temperatures (0–45°C).
"A decade ago, people thought methane would be impossible to
store; that problem has been largely solved by our MOF materials. Hydrogen
is a little more challenging than methane, but I am optimistic."
Yaghi, 41, has reason to be optimistic since only a handful
of MOFs have been tested for hydrogen storage thus far. This is not
unreasonable given that MOFs are composed of an inorganic component — a
metal oxide — and an organic component; he can control their assembly into
new structures nearly at will.
How would hydrogen work in devices like cell phones, laptop
computers and digital cameras?
"Instead of a battery, one would have a medium such as MOF
that stores hydrogen and releases it into a fuel cell," he said.
Yaghi, whose research overlaps chemistry, materials science
and engineering, has long been interested in making materials in a
rational way.
"When I started out in chemistry, I always thought it should
be possible to take two well‑defined molecules as building blocks and
stitch them together into a predetermined chemical structure — almost like
you produce a blueprint of the structure ahead of time and then find the
right building blocks necessary to build it. In this way, one can control
the structure and the composition. This approach was difficult to
implement at the beginning, but is not so difficult at this stage."
Hydrogen, when burned, produces only water, which is harmless
to the environment, Yaghi noted. With MOFs, hydrogen is physically
absorbed, and it is easy to take the hydrogen out and put it back in
without much energy cost, he said.
"The challenge has been, how do you store enough hydrogen for
an automobile to run for 300 to 400 miles without refueling?" Yaghi asked.
"You have to concentrate the hydrogen into a small volume without using
high pressure of very low temperature.
"Our idea was to create a material with pores that attract
hydrogen, making it possible to stuff more hydrogen molecules into a small
volume," he said.
In previous research, Yaghi and colleagues reported that MOFs
also can store large amounts of methane (natural gas).
"We have materials that exceed the DOE requirements for
methane, and we think we can apply the same sort of strategy for hydrogen
storage," he said.
Additionally, Yaghi has shown that MOFs store prodigious
amounts of carbon dioxide at ambient conditions, a development relevant to
preventing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and automobile
tailpipes from reaching the atmosphere.
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation,
the U.S. Department of Energy and BASF (a global chemical company based in
Germany).
Co-authors of the present research report, which Yaghi
conducted when he was on the faculty at the University of Michigan, are
Adam Matzger, assistant professor of chemistry at Michigan, and Antek
Wong-Foy, chemistry research associate at Michigan.
Contact: Stuart Wolpert (
swolpert@support.ucla.edu ) Phone: 310-206-0511 |
Brookhaven Scientists Working Toward
Practical Hydrogen-Storage Materials
Laura Mgrdichian
Brookhaven National Lab
March 15, 2006
Increased Solar Cell Efficiency and Hydrogen Production
With Titania Nanotubes
Azonano
January 31, 2006
Chemist Seeks Way to Make
Hydrogen Stick
Doug Main Washington University
in St. Louis (MO) November
2, 2005

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Unlocks a Secret of Ammonia
HYDROGEN STORAGE:
Filling Up with Hydrogen
David Schneider American
Scientist Sept/Oct 2005 |
| The surprising report, which
appeared last June in the journal Angewandte Chemie, describes a way of storing hydrogen
in the form of the compound ammonia borane, NH3BH3. Tom Autrey of the Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory led the group of 12 authors who published the work. It builds on the
decades-old idea of storing hydrogen in the form of ammonia, NH3. Unlike hydrogen gas,
which requires cryogenic temperatures to liquefy, ammonia becomes a liquid at -34 degrees
Celsius. |
|
|
DENMARK Hydrogen Pill Raises Fuel Hopes
Copenhagen Post September
7, 2005
The Role of Titanium in Hydrogen
Storage
Brookahven National Laboratory
September 1, 2005
How Hydride-Based Hydrogen Compressors Work
Hera Hydrogen Storage Systems
New Look for Hydrogen Storage
Physics Web July 19, 2005
$2 Billion Market in Nanopore
Physorg.com July 15, 2005
Nano-Graphite
May Store H2 Gas
Physorg.com July 14, 2005

'Metal-Decorated'
Nanotubes
Hold Promise for Fuel Cells
National Institute for Standards & Technology
May 3, 2005 |
New quantum calculations and computer models show
that carbon nanotubes "decorated" with titanium or other transition metals can
latch on to hydrogen molecules in numbers more than adequate for efficient hydrogen
storage, a capability key to long-term efforts to develop fuel cells, an affordable
non-polluting alternative to gasoline.
National Institute of Standards and Technology theorist Taner Yildirim
and physicist Salim Ciraci of Turkey's Bilkent University report their
"unanticipated" findings in the online issue of Physical Review Letters.*
Using established quantum
physics theory, they predict that hydrogen can amass in amounts equivalent to 8 percent of
the weight of "titanium-decorated" singled walled carbon nanotubes. That's
one-third better than the 6 percent minimum storage-capacity requirement set by the
FreedomCar Research Partnership involving the Department of Energy and the nation's
"Big 3" automakers.
As important, the four hydrogen molecules (two atoms each) that link to
a titanium atom are relinquished readily when heated. Such reversible desorption is
another requirement for practical hydrogen storage.
Resembling exceedingly small cylinders of chicken wire, so-called
single-walled carbon nanotubes are among several candidate materials eyed for hydrogen
storage. Reaching the 6 percent target, however, has proved difficulta potential
"showstopper," according to many in the field. Positioning a titanium atom above
the center of hexagonally arranged carbon atoms (the repeating geometric pattern
characteristic of carbon nanotubes) appears to resolve the impasse according to this new
study.
The new results, obtained with a method for calculating the electronic
structure of materials, surprised the researchers. Interactions among carbon, titanium and
hydrogen seem to give rise to unusual attractive forces. The upshot is that four hydrogen
molecules can dock on a titanium atom, apparently by means of a unique chemical bond of
modest strength. Several forces at work within the geometric arrangement appear to play a
role in the reversible tethering of hydrogen, Yildirim says.
Yildirim and Ciraci report that their findings "suggest a possible
method of engineering new nanostructures for high-capacity storage and catalyst
materials." The work was funded, in part, by the Department of Energy and National
Science Foundation.
*T. Yildirim and S. Ciraci, "Titanium-Decorated Carbon Nanotubes as a Potential
High-Capacity Hydrogen Storage Medium", Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, p. 175501 (2005).
More informat | |