Air Products selects Proton to supply H2 electrolyzer stations
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2005
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 93 KB
- Volume
- 2005
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1464-2859
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✦ Synopsis
Improved hydrogen storage in metaldecorated nanotubes
R esearchers from the US National
Institute of Standards & Technology and a Turkish university have reported new quantum calculations and computer models which show that carbon nanotubes 'decorated' with titanium or other transition metals can latch on to hydrogen molecules in sufficient quantities for efficient hydrogen storage. Furthermore, the four H 2 molecules that link to a titanium atom are readily relinquished when heated; this reversible desorption is another key requirement for practical hydrogen storage.
Using established quantum physics theory, NIST theorist Taner Yildirim and physicist Salim Çiraci of Bilkent University in Turkey predict that hydrogen can accumulate in numbers equivalent to 8 wt% in 'titanium-decorated' single-wall carbon nanotubes. This is well above the minimum 6 wt% storage-capacity requirement set by the FreedomCar Research Partnership involving the Department of Energy and the 'Big 3' automakers in the US.
Single-walled carbon nanotubes are among several candidate materials under investigation for hydrogen storage. However, reaching the 6 wt% target has proved difficult. Positioning a titanium atom above the center of hexagonally arranged carbon atoms appears to resolve the impasse, according to this new study, recently published in Physical Review Letters [http:// dx.