Hydrogen-powered cars a step closer

A new invention could solve the main problem holding back pollution-free car technology.

Although hydrogen is thought to be the ideal fuel for vehicles, as it only produces water on combustion, its widespread use is limited due to the lack of a safe, efficient system for onboard storage.
 
Now scientists at the University of Bath have invented a material that stores and releases hydrogen at room temperature – at the flick of a switch. `It has the potential to help make hydrogen a viable and clean technology for the future.
 
However, its fuel to weight ratio is currently insufficient to make an entire hydrogen tank from it, but the material could be used in combination with metal hydride sources to store and release energy instantaneously whilst the main tank reaches the required temperature, 300°C, to work.
 
“The problem of how to store hydrogen has been a major bottleneck in the development of the hydrogen power technology,” said Dr Andrew Weller from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Bath (UK).
 
“Hydrogen has a low density and it only condenses into liquid form at -252°C so it is difficult to use conventional storage systems such as high-pressure gas containers, which would need steel walls at least three inches thick, making them too heavy and too large for cars.”
 
The new material works at room temperature and at atmospheric pressure at the flick of a switch, because it is made from a heavy metal (Rhodium), and its weight to fuel ratio is low - 0.1 per cent. 

Hydrogen as a viable fuel source for the future

It could fill the time lag between a driver putting their foot on the accelerator and a metal hydride fuel tank getting up to temperature.
 
“We are really very excited about the potential this technology offers,” Dr Weller commented.
 
The University of Bath researchers made the discovery whilst investigating the effect that hydrogen has on metals.
 
Having constructed an organo-metallic compound containing six rhodium atoms and 12 hydrogen atoms, they began studying its chemical properties with researchers in Oxford (UK) and Victoria (Canada).
 
They soon realised that the material would absorb two molecules of hydrogen at room temperature and atmospheric pressure – and would release the molecules when a small electric current was applied to the material.
 
This kind of take up and release at the atomic scale makes the material an ideal combination for solving the hydrogen storage problem. They hope to have the fully-working prototype ready within two to three years.
 
The results are published in the scientific journal Angewandte.

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