As expected, the Michigan material hold more hydrogen than any other material. Unexpectedly, the material didn't hold as much as the scientists initially calculated. More walls means more hydrogen, but, it turns out, only up to a point. "We showed that the material with the highest surface does not necessarily have the highest hydrogen storage," said Matzger. The new material absorbs other materials, like carbon dioxide or methane, as well. Expanding the size of the pores from a couple of nanometers to a few nanometers lets larger gases like carbon dioxide or methane into the pores and the same London dispersion forces help hold it in place. Chemistry professor Joseph Hupp of Northwestern University, a "friendly competitor" of Matzger's, says that high surface area material are especially difficult to work with. "Gasses like hydrogen are really challenging to work with because they can't be condense into liquids at reasonable temperatures," said Hupp, who describes the work at "terrific." "It illustrates the principle that you can pull CO2 out of the air or store hydrogen." Matzger's next step is to continue to refine his material so the pores are even smaller than they are right now, making the material hold even more hydrogen, carbon dioxide or methane, at lower temperature and pressures. Both Matzger and Hupp say that until materials can store more cost-efficiently however, a hydrogen-based economy is still years away. Related Links: Discovery Tech: Nanotech vs. Cancer Journal of the American Chemical Society TreeHugger.com: Hydrogen Fuel Cell Waste Water to Be Bottled and Sold in India |
advertisement
Put Discovery News on Your Site! |
-
our sites
-
video
mobile
-
shop
-
stay connected
-
corporate
