Hydrogen Storage to Be Safer With Metal-Organic Frameworks!

In an attempt to ease Hydrogen storage, #-Link-Snipped-# has sanctioned $2.1 million grant for a project headed by Home – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The project aims at #-Link-Snipped-# in large quantities and at comparatively lower pressures. The focus is on creating material frameworks to absorb as much Hydrogen as possible.

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Berkeley Lab scientist Jeffrey Long co-leads a project to develop novel materials for hydrogen storage. Image Credit: Roy Kaltschmidt/Berkeley Lab

The team of scientists headed by Jeffrey Long and chemist Martin Head-Gordon from Berkeley labs are thinking about Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to do the trick. The scientists believe that these three dimensional sponge like structures are capable of storing Hydrogen in potentially safer way. The MOFs are primarily composed of carbon atoms and are extremely light weight.

In conventional methods of storing Hydrogen, the gas is liquefied at 600-700 bars. The method is both unsafe and energy intensive. The scientists have so far succeeded in doubling the capacity of present Hydrogen capacity, however, this is only limited to very low temperatures of 77K. The team wishes to remove this limit and want to develop a real life solution.

The team believes that an increase in #-Link-Snipped-# is possible if they are able to synthesize the surface of MOFs. This will make the material absorb more of the gas. The efforts of Berkeley lab scientists are aided by #-Link-Snipped-# and General Motors: Pushing the Limits of Transportation & Technology.

NIST with its expertise in neutron spectroscopy is helping the Berkeley team to understand exactly where the gas atoms are absorbed. With NIST's efforts, the team is also able to calculate binding energy required for Hydrogen atoms to stick to the Metal-Organic Frameworks. General Motors is coordinating with scientists to take accurate measurements.

The grant which the Berkeley lab has received is part of more than $7 million aid promised by DOE last month. DOE has kept in view the future demand of hydrogen storage technologies in fuel cell electric vehicles. If the research is successful, it will be quicker for auto companies to switch over to EVs from gasoline fed automobiles.