Hydrogen tanks

By David Bradley2008-07-01T00:00:00

Hydrogen molecules (green) adsorbed onto MOF-74, which comprises carbon atoms (grey) with columns of zinc ions (blue)

Source: NIST

Metal-organic compounds, the key to hydrogen-powered cars

Using renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, and tidal, to convert biomass into hydrogen fuel, could underpin a future 'hydrogen economy' based on fuel-cell devices that then convert the hydrogen into water and release the pent up energy. However, storing useful volumes of hydrogen for powering fuel-cell vehicles remains a major obstacle. Now, US scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) believe they may be one step closer to understanding how to build a fuel tank for a clean, efficient, hydrogen-powered car.

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