Hydrogen Storage Materials Focus of New Sandia Project

Sandia researchers have spent a good deal of time in recent years examining the viability of hydrogen storage materials through the Department of Energy (DOE) Metal Hydride Center of Excellence (which it leads), as well as a work for others (WFO) partnership with General Motors, and other related materials science projects. The storage of hydrogen on board automobiles is a challenging issue, and hydrogen storage materials continue to be one of the more promising solutions under consideration.

In addition to developing materials that can store sufficient densities of hydrogen, an important area of research is the reactivity and durability of materials. How exactly do these storage materials behave under various conditions, including exposure to water and other compounds? What are the best methods to produce and handle hydrogen storage materials?

By addressing these questions now, researchers aim to ensure that such research and development issues are exhaustively examined and resolved for consumers prior to the commercialization and deployment of new storage technologies. Now, thanks to a new DOE-funded project at Sandia led by principal investigator Daniel Dedrick, the material properties of advanced metal hydrides within the context of an automotive fuel tank system are being quantified.