(Invited) Overview of Research and Development within the Hydrogen Materials—Advanced Research Consortium (HyMARC)

Abstract

Hydrogen fuel cells have the potential to solve some of the biggest problems in transportation applications. When used to power vehicles they offer comparable range, with similar refueling times, as gasoline vehicles, with the added benefit of zero emissions at the point of use. Current onboard storage technologies employ compressed hydrogen gas at 70 MPa, which has an energy density of only about one seventh of that of gasoline. Liquid hydrogen, with a normal boiling point of 20 K, has close to twice the energy density of 70 MPa compressed hydrogen. While liquid hydrogen is currently the primary way large quantities of hydrogen is transported and stored, it is energy intensive to produce, and is not suitable for small-scale or long-term storage. Condensed-phase materials, such as metal hydrides, nanoporous sorbents and liquid hydrogen carriers, have the potential to meet the Department of Energy’s (DOE) capacity targets for onboard storage as well as for bulk transport and storage, at significantly reduced operating pressures and relevant temperatures. However, none of the existing materials can meet all the DOE technical targets. To address the limitations of current materials, the DOE Fuel Cells Technologies Office established the Hydrogen Materials Advanced Research Consortium (HyMARC), which includes scientists and engineers from five U.S. National Laboratories and six DOE User Facilities. This presentation will provide an overview of the HyMARC effort, including specific examples illustrating how this project facilitates and promotes the discovery of novel hydrogen storage materials and technologies. Recent material advances pioneered by HyMARC researchers include, for example, the discovery of Metal-Organic Frameworks capable of binding multiple hydrogen molecules to a single metal ion site, interface-driven reactions in nanoscale metal hydrides, and graphene-encapsulated hydrides. These developments are providing guidance for material discovery efforts and are creating new synthesis, modeling, and characterization capabilities that can accelerate materials discovery.