Forum for Science, Industry and Business
Sponsored by:     Siemens  n-tv 
Search our Site:

Topic (optional):

 

Home Reports Ecology, The Environment and Conservation Content

Hydrogen storage powder from a quick, simple reaction

next article
24.06.2008

Chemists in the US have developed a simple reaction to make ammonia borane – a powder more hydrogen-dense than even liquid hydrogen. Their one-pot synthesis of this promising hydrogen storage material is reported in the first issue of the new Royal Society of Chemistry journal Energy & Environmental Science.

 

Hydrogen has significant benefits as a fuel of the future: potentially renewable and sustainable, and, as hydrogen fuel cells emit only water, a green alternative to other more polluting fuels such as hydrocarbons like petrol.


Storing hydrogen safely is tricky, however – pressurising hydrogen gas is potentially dangerous for everyday use, and it can only be stored as a liquid under cryogenic conditions.

Chemists like Tom Autrey from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, US, are addressing the problem by designing materials to store hydrogen safely, such that it can be released at will to power a fuel cell.

Ammonia borane (AB) is a stable white powder which releases hydrogen gas upon heating. Its use as a hydrogen storage material has been hampered by difficulties in making the powder in reasonable yield, but the new research further increases its promise.

Autrey and colleagues discovered a “one-pot” method of making AB while studying its decomposition pathways. He said the group was “pleasantly surprised that under relatively simple reaction conditions the ammonia borane was formed in very high yields.”

The group is currently looking at scaling up the reaction to an industrial level. Autrey says the next challenge is to “recycle the solvents to provide the most economical route to synthesise this promising hydrogen storage material.”

Jon Edwards | Source: alphagalileo
Further information: www.rsc.org/publishing/journals/EE/article.asp?doi=b808865a

next article

More articles from Ecology, The Environment and Conservation:

nachricht Plants save the earth from an icy doom
03.07.2009 | Yale University

nachricht Mangrove-dependent animals globally threatened
03.07.2009 | American Institute of Biological Sciences

B2B Search

Product / Service
Company / Organisation

Latest News

The least sea ice in 800 years

03.07.2009 | Earth Sciences

Astronomer's new guide to the galaxy: largest map of cold dust revealed

03.07.2009 | Physics and Astronomy

Interferon alpha can delay full onset of type I diabetes

03.07.2009 | Health and Medicine

VideoLinks

Event News

New Worlds - New Solutions - Research and Innovation as a Basis for Developing Europe in a Global Context

29.06.2009 | Event News

6th BMBF Forum for Sustainability "Research for Sustainability - One Step Further"

19.06.2009 | Event News

2nd ISPIM Innovation Symposium - Stimulating Recovery The Role of Innovation Management

02.06.2009 | Event News