A solid pathway toward hydrogen storage
September 26, 2017 by Anne M Stark, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
A hydrogenation mechanism that directly forms magnesium borohydride avoids issues known to inhibit the speed at which a hydrogen vehicle can be refueled. Hydrogen molecules (gray) dissociate on exposed magnesium (blue) layers of magnesium …more
An inexpensive and useful layered superconductor compound also may be an efficient solid-state material for storing hydrogen. The Department of Energy's (DOE) Energy Materials Network (EMN) consortium approach to accelerate material discovery and development is starting to pay off.
Through theory and experimentation, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists have discovered the key mechanism by which magnesium diboride (MgB2) absorbs hydrogen and provided key insights into the reaction pathway that converts MgB2 to its highest hydrogen capacity form, magnesium borohydride (Mg(BH4)2). Mg(BH4)2 is a particularly promising hydrogen storage material because of its high hydrogen content and attractive thermodynamics.
"The insights provided by our study are an important step toward unlocking the potential of this material for solid-state hydrogen storage," said Keith Ray, LLNL physicist and lead author of a paper featured on the inside cover of the September issue of Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics .
Storage of hydrogen is one of the critical enabling technologies for hydrogen-fueled transportation systems as well as grid resiliency, energy storage and use of diverse domestic resources across sectors, which can reduce oil dependency.
Hydrogen has a high gravimetric energy density—fuel cell vehicles on the road today can travel more than 300 miles with 5 kilograms of hydrogen
Read more at:
https://phys.org/news/2017-09-solid-pathway-hydrogen-storage.html#jCp