Filed under: Hydrogen
Rice University researchers studying hydrogen nano tanks
Researchers at Rice University are studying a new way of potentially storing hydrogen within tiny carbon nano-structures called buckyballs. So far they haven't actually been able to physically test their ideas. They have only done computer simulations to evaluate whether the structures could hold multiple hydrogen atoms. A carbon buckyball made up of 60 carbon atoms can hold up to 58 hydrogen atoms before coming apart. The structure could be scaled up to create larger buckyballs to hold more hydrogen. The problem is how to actually get the hydrogen into and out of this very strong yet lightweight structure. That may turn out to be an insurmountable problem. Researcher Dr. Boris Yakobson is also looking at different types of nano-structures that might actually be more usable (or usable at all) such as tiny cylinders. Dennis Witmer, a professor at the University of Alaska, doesn't expect this technology to be practical anytime soon.
[Source: Popular Mechanics, thanks to Matt for the tip]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tormod Henne 8:19AM (4/02/2008)
Practical carbon-nanostructures that can hold on to hydrogen atoms have been around for ages. They are called Hydrocarbons. Imagine, one carbon-atom can hold 4 hydrogen atoms! (CH4, C2H6 etc.) Add one Oxygen atom if you want liquid form. Could be sold in large quantities and even make a healthy profit..
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Mulad 3:21PM (4/02/2008)
Yeah, I've had similar thoughts to Tormod's. Using synfuels would probably be a few orders of magnitude easier than attempting this. And actually, I'm not sure if the buckyballs would really be "lightweight", considering that an atom of carbon is 12 times heavier than an atom of hydrogen. At least with standard hydrocarbon chains, you're usually looking at a ratio around 2.25:1 for hydrogen to carbon.
Well, a standard 60-atom buckyball is pretty tiny. The math would change a lot for larger molecules (of course, bigger ones would be subject to different stresses too). I can't imagine it's very energy-efficient to go through this whole process though. I think it's mostly interesting as an experiment rather than a practical process.
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KarenRei 3:59PM (4/02/2008)
The implications of this are a lot more significant for superconductors and fusion research than they are for a "hydrogen economy". They're talking about hydrogen in so dense that it's metallic, like in the core of Jupiter. You're not going to find a process to do that affordably, ever, if it's even possible.
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