One key to using hydrogen as a fuel is
finding practical ways to store it. The challenge is storing useful amounts
of hydrogen under manageable conditions.
Researchers from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and the
University of Liverpool have discovered a kinetic trapping effect that
allows hydrogen to be adsorbed, or taking into a material that has pores
that are so small that hydrogen molecules, which consist of a pair of
linked hydrogen atoms, cannot pass through.
The material has a cage-like structure consisting of metal atoms
linked by organic molecules. The cross-linking molecules are flexible;
they hold hydrogen molecules in at ordinary pressures, but allow them
through at low-pressure.
The researchers filled between 57 and 71 percent of the material's
pore volume with hydrogen. The material stored the fuel at -196 degrees
Celsius at one bar, or 14.5 pounds per square inch. One bar is slightly
less than one atmosphere of pressure.
One version of the material retained the hydrogen until the pressure
was reduced to 49 thousandths of a bar; another version retained hydrogen
until the pressure was reduced to 300 thousandths of a bar.
Department of Energy guidelines for storing hydrogen for use in
vehicles calls for materials that store at least six percent of their
weight in hydrogen. The researchers' prototype stores one percent hydrogen
The prototype is a proof of principle that paves the way for further
research into this type of effect, according to the researchers. The next
step is to develop new materials along the same lines that have higher
hydrogen capacity and show the kinetic trapping effect at higher temperatures.
It will be 10 to 20 years before the material could be used in
practical applications, according to the researchers. The work appeared
in the October 14, 2004 issue of Sciencexpress.
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