As I have said it many times before, inventions in the field of hydrogen storage are most desired, because hydrogen can be created easily from solar power, and offers nothing but water at the other end of the equation.
For making it viable in everyday fueling conditions, the hydrogen has to be pumped at a very high pressure in the containing tanks on the hydrogen vehicles. Of course, the tanks have to be smartly enough designed to accept a high pressure without leaking or exploding, and they have to accept it quickly. This speed of charging (on the scale of minutes) takes the tank to high pressures, making it impossible to fill to the desired point, because of the heat the process produces.
An international team of researchers, including prof. Rajeev Ahuja and his scientists group, at Uppsala University in Sweden, have demonstrated experimentally and theoretically that by adding small additions of potassium hydride they dramatically lower the temperature for hydrogen absorption. “Based on our theoretical analysis, we can provide a detailed explanation of the atomic mechanisms behind the effect.” The storage tank they used is made of a mixture of Mg(NH2)2 and 2LiH.
This is another discovery worth noting in our quest towards no-emission cars. Since the clean hydrogen technology is closely associated with the development of the solar industry, it’s also worth watching both to the point where they converge into an efficient and unitary system.
