Materials Today - Putting hydrogen into the framework

Materials Today - Putting hydrogen into the framework Metallocarboranes for reversable hydrogen storage in ambient conditions.

Metallacarboranes can be used as viable natural hydrogen storage materials, say researchers from the US and India [Singh et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2010) doi: 10.1021/ja104544s].

Metallacarboranes are clusters consisting of boron and carbon atoms in which one or several BH units are replaced by a transition metal atom to form a cage containing boron, metal and carbon. The remarkable thing is that they are capable of binding hydrogen in a rather unusual way- via the Kubas interaction. While most chemical bonding relies on strong chemisorption involving covalent bonds which are difficult to break or weak physisorption involving van der Waals interactions, the Kubas type of interaction lies somewhere between the two in strength which could potentially change the future of hydrogen storage. Hydrogen storage has long been the focus of many research laboratories but the metal organic frameworks and metal hyrides investigated so far suffer from binding too strongly or too weakly to hydrogen. The Kubas interaction however, provides the right level of binding strength.

The team from Rice University in the US and the Indian Institute of Science in India have used first principle calculations to show that metallacarboranes containing Sc or Ti achieve an average binding energy of around 0.4 eV/H2. This means that they are capable of reversible storage at ambient conditions. Each metal atom can bind up to five H2 molecules and the cages can store around 8 wt % of hydrogen on the metallacarborane cluster, a value which exceeds the US department of energy goals for set for 2015.

Boris Yakobson of Rice University explains to Materials Today why the system is so effective. “The metal organic framework provides a scaffold, and some of its links include transition metal atoms capable of catching and holding H2, yet not too strongly, so it can be released when needed for fuel. Now, to prevent transition metals from aggregating into a blob together, each metal atom must be held, like a gem held in a casing. This is accomplished by placing transition metal atoms in the carborane casings-part of the scaffold of the entire metal organic framework. High porosity of the metal organic framework is important is it allows H2 to enter and leave freely.”

In addition to binding up to 5 molecules of H2 via the Kubas interaction, metallacarboranes can also physisorb more hydrogen within the pores of the frameworks.

As Yakobson says, “If chemists can synthesize this particular framework with metallacarborane as an element, this (hydrogen storage) may become a reality."

Materials Today - Hydrogen generation

Materials Today - Hydrogen generation Extracting hydrogen from seawater to run engines for marine applications.Researchers have developed a method that uses aluminum and a liquid alloy to extract hydrogen from seawater to run engines in boats and ships, representing a potential replacement for gasoline and diesel fuel in marine applications.

Hydrogen fuel for thought: Metallacarboranes may meet DOE storage goals

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How Scum Could Fuel the Hydrogen Economy | Renewable Energy World

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Low-temperature catalyst for hydrogen purification

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Hawaii's Great Hydrogen Fuel Experiment : Discovery News

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Hydrogen fuel is one of the more attractive energy alternatives to oil: it is abundant and it produces only wate

Hydrogen causes metal to break

Hydrogen causes metal to break: "In the transportation and energy sectors, hydrogen is viewed as an eventual alternative to the raw materials of fossil-fuel power, such as coal, petroleum and natural gas. However, for metals like steel, aluminum and magnesium -- which are commonly used in automotive and energy technology -- hydrogen is not quite ideal. It can make these metals brittle; the ductility of the metal becomes reduced. Its durability deteriorates."

Waste fat from frying fuels hydrogen economy

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Ultrahigh Porosity in Metal-Organic Frameworks -- Furukawa et al. 329 (5990): 424 -- Science

Ultrahigh Porosity in Metal-Organic Frameworks -- Furukawa et al. 329 (5990): 424 -- Science
Crystalline solids with extended non-interpenetrating three-dimensional crystal structures were synthesized that support well-defined pores with internal diameters of up to 48 angstroms. The Zn4O(CO2)6 unit was joined with either one or two kinds of organic link, 4,4',4''-[benzene-1,3,5-triyl-tris(ethyne-2,1-diyl)]tribenzoate (BTE), 4,4',44''-[benzene-1,3,5-triyl-tris(benzene-4,1-diyl)]tribenzoate (BBC), 4,4',44''-benzene-1,3,5-triyl-tribenzoate (BTB)/2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylate (NDC), and BTE/biphenyl-4,4'-dicarboxylate (BPDC), to give four metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), MOF-180, -200, -205, and -210, respectively. Members of this series of MOFs show exceptional porosities and gas (hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide) uptake capacities. For example, MOF-210 has Brunauer-Emmett-Teller and Langmuir surface areas of 6240 and 10,400 square meters per gram, respectively, and a total carbon dioxide storage capacity of 2870 milligrams per gram. The volume-specific internal surface area of MOF-210 (2060 square meters per cubic centimeter) is equivalent to the outer surface of nanoparticles (3-nanometer cubes) and near the ultimate adsorption limit for solid materials.

The Short-Term Hydrogen Economy: Fueling Fuel Cells from Natural Gas | Engineering Cases

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Fuel cells get up to speed with a new kind of platinum

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Renewable Energy: Inexpensive metal catalyst can effectively generate hydrogen from water

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LinkedIn: SlideShare Presentations

LinkedIn: SlideShare Presentations

New super bacterium doubles hydrogen gas production

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A Virus That Might Make Hydrogen : Greentech Media

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BAE Systems to Develop Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus for SunLine Transit - MarketWatch

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GM Spreads Fuel Cell Message, Says U.S. Needs to Develop Hydrogen Fuel System | Tech News, Reviews, Business, Health News and More

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Scavenging energy waste to turn water into hydrogen fuel

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Observations: Graphene used to make a hydrogen molecule "parking garage"

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Crystals + sound + water = clean hydrogen fuel - tech - 16 March 2010 - New Scientist

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A team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison made crystals of zinc oxide that, when immersed in water, absorb vibrations and develop areas of strong negative and positive charge. These charges rip apart nearby water molecules, releasing hydrogen and oxygen gas."

Next-Gen Scientists Honored for Evolving Medicine and Renewables [Slide Show]: Scientific American

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Kayvan Rafiee of RPI is developing a way to line a hydrogen vehicle's fuel tank with a one-atom-thick layer of graphene, essentially a sheet of single-walled carbon nanotubes that have been opened up and laid flat, so that the tank can better store and release hydrogen. His goal is to help automakers speed hydrogen-fueled cars to the market. "The hydrogen economy is the main key to solving oil dependency," he says.

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Germany Floats New Plans to Keep Hydrogen-Powered Cars in the World's Transportation Mix: Scientific American

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Applied electric field can significantly improve hydrogen storage properties

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Greentech Media: Can Aluminum Make Hydrogen Real?

Greentech Media: Can Aluminum Make Hydrogen Real?

Greentech Media: How Efficient Can Solar Get?

Greentech Media: How Efficient Can Solar Get?

Lithium-air batteries could displace gasoline in future cars

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