Synergistic Approach to New Classes of Hydrogen Storage Materials

Jeffrey Long,  Program Leader

The Berkeley Hydrogen Storage Program consists of a broad-based, multi-investigator effort for developing new types of hydrogen storage materials, specifically those that can demonstrate a rapid and reversible 6 wt % H2 uptake at moderate temperature and pressure.  Numerous possibilities are being explored, with a focus on new nanostructured materials.  Specific areas for investigation include: synthesis of new nanostructured boron nitride materials for comparison with carbon analogues, computational work leading to the prediction of structures with a high affinity for H2, synthesis and evaluation of H2 uptake in magnesium-intermetallic nanocrystalline networks, and development of nanocrystal/metal-organic framework hybrid materials exhibiting room-temperature hydrogen uptake via a spillover mechanism.  Ultimately, this research is expected to yield materials that enhance the range of hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles

Self-assembly of gold nanoparticles at the surface of (a) an amine-functionalized boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) and (b) a thiol-functionalized boron nitride nanotube.

CURRENT PROJECTS

• Continued development of CVD, induction furnace and plasma methodologies for large-scale generation of nanostructured boron nitride and related materials of various morphologies and functionalization, and for making their composites with metals and metal oxides. Study and exploit hydrogen spillover in these nanostructured systems as a means of room temperature hydrogen storage, including spillover effects in boron nitride nanotubes with attached palladium nanocrystals. (Alex Zettl)
• Investigate the hydrogen storage properties of recently generated new materials such as three-dimensional arrays of Pd nanocrystals with variation in diameter. (Paul Alivisatos)
• Synthesize and characterize highly-porous Mg2FeH6 networks derived from self-assembled Mg2Fe nanocrystal superlattices. (Jeffrey Urban)
• Prepare and characterize metal-organic framework/nanocrystal hybrid systems. (Paul Alivisatos and Jeffrey Long)
• Computational studies directed toward understanding and predicting the relative H2 binding affinity of various nanotubes and graphene sheets, and the role of defect structures; also,  the effects of B- and N-doping in graphene sheets for stabilizing a variety of surface-bound metal atoms. (Stephen Louie and Marvin Cohen

Schematic representation of hydrogen  spillover via a Pd nanoparticle on a support surface.