While fuel cell technology has rapidly advanced towards application in automobiles, the on-board storage of the hydrogen needed to power a fuel cell has not. Pressurized hydrogen storage tanks would require impractically bulky and heavy vessels and liquid hydrogen must be stored at -423 degrees F (or - 251 degrees C) making it logistically very difficult. Solid state hydrogen storage offers a solution because it requires essentially no pressure, is inert at typical operating temperatures, and releases hydrogen on demand. This research will utilize advancements in nanotechnology to improve the performance of solid state hydrogen storage materials - a much needed step towards development of the new American energy economy. The success of the project will be a significant step toward the realization of a hydrogen economy and will attain a better fundamental understanding of the physical properties and chemical behavior when matter shrinks to the nanometer scale. This research will expose, educate, and attract graduate and undergraduate students to the field of energy related materials and technology and be environmentally conscious through their thesis research, faculty seminars, workshops, and publications.
TECHNICAL DETAILS: This research is to develop novel nanocomposites consisting of a highly porous chemically modified carbon cryogel filled and intimately mixed with hydrides and optionally coated with a porous catalyst oxide layer. The extremely high surface area (>2000 m2/g) and porosity (>95%) of carbon cryogels facilitates an intimate contact between hydrides and the carbon network with possible catalytic effects as well promoting a homogeneous dispersion while trapping hydrides inside the tunable pores which range from <1 nm - 100 nm in size. Dispersed hydrides inside the pores would be confined to nanometers in diameter with a large surface area and energy. Such coherently structured nanocomposites are anticipated to reduce hydride decomposition temperature, enhance reversibility, and improve thermal conductivity and thus hydrogen absorption/desorption kinetics, while retaining hydrogen storage capacity similar to the bulk hydride. This research will train students in cutting-edge energy related materials research and establish a close collaboration of graduate and undergraduate students with national laboratory scientists and industry engineers.
