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Hydrogen storage materials
Safe, high energy-density hydrogen storage is critical to the realisation of hydrogen-based energy solutions, especially for the transport sector. However, conventional storage technologies that use compressed gas offer inadequate storage density against both volume and mass criteria.
Amonia boridane crystal structure
The US Department of Energy has set challenging cost, efficiency, volumetric and mass storage goals, with the critical targets for delivery being 6.5 wt % H2 storage by 2010 and 9.0 wt % H2 storage by 2015.
Chemical hydrides such as ammonia borane (NH3BH3, a structural analogue of ethane) offer a safe and practicable way to store hydrogen at a high energy density. Our aim is to develop materials with high hydrogen storage capacity based on ammonia borane or its derivatives, which can store and release hydrogen in a controlled manner on activation.
The thermal analysis data trace demonstrates the release of 13 wt% hydrogen from ammonia borane in two stages upon heating to 150ºC, corresponding to the chemistry:
NH3BH3 → NH2BH2 + H2 → NHBH + H2
IRL's partners include international collaborators Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL), Los Alamos National Lab (LANL), National University of Singapore and Oxford University, who are world leaders in hydrogen storage research. Together with key researchers from these institutions, IRL contributes to a major chemical hydrogen storage programme for the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy. New Zealand has been a member of the IPHE since January 2005.