Hydrogen storage: the major technological barrier to the development of hydrogen fuel cell cars

Ross, DK

Abstract

In this paper, we review the current technology for the storage of hydrogen on board a fuel cell-propelled vehicle. Having outlined the
technical specifications necessary to match the performance of hydrocarbon. fue1, we first outline the inherent difficulties with gas
pressure and liquid hydrogen storage. We then outline the history of transition metal hydride storage, leading to the development of
metal hydride batteries. A viable system, however, must involve lighter elements and be vacuum-tight. The first new system to get serious
consideration is titanium-activated sodium alanate, followed by the lithium amide and borohydride systems that potentially overcome
several of the disadvantages of alanates. Borohydrides can alternatively produce hydrogen by reaction with water in the presence of a
catalyst but the product would have to be recycled via a chemical plant. Finally various possible ways of making magnesium hydride
decompose and reform more readily are discussed. The alternative to lighter hydrides is the development of physisorption of molecular
hydrogen on high surface area materials such as carbons, metal oxide frameworks, zeolites. Here the problem is that the surface binding
energy is too low to work at anything above liquid nitrogen temperature. Recent investigations of the interaction mechanism are
discussed which show that systems with stronger interactions will inevitably require a surface interaction that increases the molecular
hydrogen–hydrogen distance.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2006
• Deposit Date: Jul 15, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: Vacuum
• Print ISSN: 0042-207X
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 80
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 1084-1089
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2006.03.030
• Keywords: Hydrogen storage, fuel cells, alanates, lithium amide, sodium borohydride, magnesium hydride, activated carbons, MOFs, zeolites, physisorption of molecular hydrogen
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2006.03.030