From: Spudboy100@aol.com
Date: Sun Jan 19 2003 - 16:35:26 MST
http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/2003/011503/Metal_stores_more_hydrogen_011503.htm
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<<Metal stores more hydrogen
By Eric Smalley, Technology Research News
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, and when it is
burned its only byproduct is water. One reason the world isn't running on
hydrogen fuel is that it's hard to store.
Researchers from the National University of Singapore have made an accidental
discovery that brings the promise of clean hydrogen energy a big step
forward.
The challenges to using hydrogen as a fuel include finding a hydrogen storage
system that is reasonably small and light, and finding a way to release the
stored fuel quickly enough when it is needed.
The researchers have found a material that can store and quickly release
large amounts of hydrogen. Lithium nitride can store 11.4 percent of its own
weight in hydrogen, which is 50 percent more than magnesium hydride, the
previous best hydrogen storage material. Other metal hydrides generally store
only 2 to 4 percent of their weight.
The new material is not ready for practical applications because the temperatu
re required to release the hydrogen is too high, but it points the way to a
practical hydrogen storage material, according to Ping Chen, a senior
research fellow at the National University of Singapore. "We think the main
application might be... on-board hydrogen storage," he said. >>
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