For Future Energy Demands, Turn to Hydrogen

ABSTRACT:

With the rapid depletion of the fossil fuels, it is rather imperative to find suitable alternatives to meet our ever increasing energy demands. In this regard, hydrogen with a calorific value that is three times as large as that of the liquid hydrocarbons and also its clean burning nature, clearly holds immense potential to become an energy source of the future.1 Storage of hydrogen in large quantities for on-board applications remains a major impediment for its widespread usage in the so-called hydrogen economy. The low density of H2 makes it difficult to store in compressed or liquefied form. One viable way to store hydrogen for on-board applications that is relatively safe is in the chemical form.

In this talk, efforts toward the storage and release of hydrogen from binary and complex metal hydrides, chemical hydrides, and metal organic framework materials will be discussed.

Reference
(1)	L. Schlapbach, A. Züttel, Nature 414, 353 (2001).