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Introduction

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Hydrogen Storage Materials

Part of the book series: Green Energy and Technology ((GREEN))

Abstract

A major technological barrier currently preventing the proposed transition to a “hydrogen economy” is the storage of hydrogen for use as an energy carrier. There are various methods available, but none of these can currently achieve the required storage densities. The use of a reversible solid state hydrogen storage material, however, is one of the most promising potential solutions to this problem. In this opening chapter, we will look at some of the background to this topic, including the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier, the barriers to the widespread use of hydrogen energy in transportation technology, the different methods that can be used for the storage of hydrogen and the use of solid state media. We will then introduce the measurement methods for hydrogen uptake determination and some of the complementary characterisation techniques that can be used. We also discuss the reasons why the accurate characterisation of the storage properties of a material is an important and high profile topic. We will close the chapter by defining some of the terminology used throughout the book.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Hydrogen can also be used to fuel ICEs, but their efficiency is lower than that of fuel cells and so this just increases the problem of the storage of low density hydrogen. The focus is therefore predominantly on fuel cells.

  2. 2.

    The report summarises active fuel cell vehicle development programmes by BMW, Daihatsu, DaimlerChrysler, Fiat, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot Citroën, Renault, Suzuki, Toyota and Volkswagen AG. Solomon and Banerjee [7] also identify a number of companies with active hydrogen programmes. A recent report by the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR) LLC [10], a joint initiative between Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, strongly supports the continued funding of hydrogen fuel cell research, due to both the recent progress made in the required technology and the greater potential shown by hydrogen fuel cell vehicles compared to the alternative of non-hydrogen electric vehicle technology.

  3. 3.

    It should be noted that although the idea of a hydrogen economy is gaining increasing levels of support it is not without its critics [12, 13]; however, a discussion of the arguments is beyond the scope of this introduction.

  4. 4.

    For example, according to Robertson and Beard [14] of DaimlerChrysler, “the scientific, engineering, social, consumer acceptance, economic, and policy hurdles that must be overcome are unprecedented”.

  5. 5.

    http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/, accessed 5th September 2009.

  6. 6.

    Eberle et al. [21] categorise adsorbents as a physical storage method alongside compressed gas and liquid storage, whereas interstitial and complex hydrides are considered chemical methods alongside non-reversible storage compounds.

  7. 7.

    Examples include its thermal conduction properties, toxicity and the pyrophoricity of the material upon hydrogen activation.

  8. 8.

    As an example, the US FreedomCAR Fuel Cell Technology Team have specified, for the purpose of testing fuel cell performance, a composition of hydrogen (> 99.9% purity), with 10 ppb H2S, 0.1 ppm CO, 5 ppm CO2 and 1 ppm NH3 [19]. The FreedomCAR Hydrogen Storage Roadmap specifies 99.99% purity with the following impurity levels: 5 ppm H2O, 2 ppm Hydrocarbons, 5 ppm O2, 100 ppm He/N2/Ar combined, 1 ppm CO2, 0.2 ppm CO, 0.004 ppm S (total), 0.01 ppm Formaldehyde, 0.2 ppm Formic Acid, 0.1 ppm NH3 and 0.05 ppm Halogenates [1].

  9. 9.

    In the intervening period there have been significant breakthroughs, including the exciting developments in the synthesis of metal-organic frameworks. It is therefore likely that these breakthroughs would have led to the re-emergence of the idea of adsorptive hydrogen storage in the absence of the work of Dillon et al. [35]; however, this early work certainly opened up the prospect of new candidate materials in this category and made adsorptive hydrogen storage a hot topic.

  10. 10.

    ‘Nanopore’ typically refers to a pore size < 100 nm, which covers the IUPAC micro-, meso- and macroporous ranges. In hydrogen storage it is almost exclusively microporous materials that are of interest, although it is worth noting that the IUPAC definitions are approximate and materials will quite often have a mix of pore sizes; nevertheless, microporous materials will have pore dimensions that are predominantly in the micropore region.

  11. 11.

    Under these definitions there is a blurred boundary between some of the chemical and complex hydrides, but we will retain the former for compounds in which hydrogen release is highly irreversible, and the latter for compounds that at a very minimum offer the promise of reversible storage.

  12. 12.

    Note that in the most recent international vocabulary of metrology [40] some of the terminology has changed slightly. For example, the measurement accuracy is now defined as being the “closeness of the agreement between a measured quantity value and a true quantity value of a measurand”, rather than just the measured value and true value. However, the underlying principles of the terms accuracy, repeatability, reproducibility and uncertainty remain the same.

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  1. Hiden Isochema Ltd, Europa Boulevard 231, Warrington, WA5 7TN, UK

    Darren P. Broom

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© 2011 Springer-Verlag London Limited

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Broom, D.P. (2011). Introduction. In: Hydrogen Storage Materials. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-221-6_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-221-6_1

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