Hydrogen storage breakthrough 'key to fuel cell vehicle advancement'

The development of a compound of the element lithium by a team of UK scientists could make it possible to store enough hydrogen on board a fuel cell-powered car to enable it to travel in excess of 300 miles before refuelling.

The breakthrough, the result of a joint initiative co-ordinated by the UK Sustainable Hydrogen Energy Consortium (UK-SHEC) and involving the universities of Oxford and Birmingham as well as the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, has been tipped to remove a vital block to the wholesale adoption of fuel cell vehicles.

UK-SHEC is funded by the Sustainable Power Generation and Supply initiative (Supergen).

Specifically, the advancement enables hydrogen to be stored at higher densities and within acceptable weight limits through a process of chemisorption.

"This could be a major step towards the breakthrough that the fuel cell industry and the transport sector have waited for," UK-SHEC's project co-ordinator Professor Peter Edwards of the University of Oxford told the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

"It's due to Supergen's vision of combining many of the leading groups in the UK to tackle this, arguably the biggest challenge for the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

"This could make a key contribution to helping fuel cell cars become more viable for mass-manufacture within around ten years."

Source: Adfero