Better Hydrogen Storage with Nanoparticle

When you aim big you need to go small. It is the very same approach that was adopted by an interdisciplinary, multilab team that used nanoparticles along with a completely new nanoconfinement system to come up with a procedure to alter storage properties of hydrogen. This new finding can lead to the creation of higher capacity hydrogen storage materials that will help in instant refueling, better performance of the hydrogen-based fuel cells for electric vehicles. The team that made the discovery had members from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Sandia National Laboratories, Mahidol University, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Thailand. A paper on this research was recently published on this account in the Advanced Materials Interfaces journal.

A solid material is completely capable of acting like a sponge for release and absorption of hydrogen which are termed as dehydrogenation and hydrogenation. Therefore, usage of one such hydrogen storage materials can enhance the amount of hydrogen that can be stored. This material must be capable of storing plenty of hydrogen for a vehicle that can go up to a distance of 300 miles before a refueling is needed.

A chemist from Sandia, Vitalie Stavila, says, “There are two critical problems with existing sponges for hydrogen storage. Most can’t soak up enough hydrogen for cars. Also, the sponges don’t release and absorb hydrogen fast enough, especially compared to the 5 minutes needed for fueling.” Stavila explains that their interdisciplinary team worked quite closely for modeling, characterization, and synthesis for improvement of lithium nitride properties, a very promising sponge for hydrogen storage. The team was also able to understand as to why nanosizing improves hydrogen storage characteristics of this substance. Sandia adds that their research team will take next step of research towards development of an understanding about how hydrogenated and dehydrogenated stages of lithium nitride modify at a very nanoscale.