RESEARCH METHODOLOGY REPORT

Muhammad Aatif Alvi

MAY 26, 2018

Title:
Hydrogen Storage for Fuel Cell Vehicle
Introduction:
Hydrogen is a potential clean and environmentally friendly energy carrier because, in proton exchange
membrane (PEM) fuel cells, hydrogen protons released at the anode transfer through the electrolyte, to
react with oxygen at the cathode to produce water while work is generated in the external circuit via
electron transfer from the anode to the cathode. In this context, hydrogen is an important alternative to
address some adverse aspects of the current hydrocarbon liquid fuels for transportation applications. It has
high energy density on a mass basis as compared to gasoline (120 MJ/kg for hydrogen vs. 44 MJ/ kg for
gasoline). Unfortunately, it has poor volumetric energy density (0.01 MJ/L for hydrogen at STP vs. 32
MJ/ L for gasoline), which presents significant difficulty in storing large quantity of hydrogen for vehicle
applications. A critical challenge for the development of fuel cell vehicles is how to store hydrogen on-
board for a driving range (>500 km or 300 miles) on single fill with the constraints of safety, weight,
volume, efficiency and cost. As illustrated in Figure 1, current approaches for on-board hydrogen storage
include compressed hydrogen gas, cryogenic and liquid hydrogen, sorbents, metal hydrides, and chemical
hydrides which are categorized as either ‘reversible on-board’ or ‘regenerable off-board’. The U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) has set a 2017 requirement of 5.5 wt% H2 and 40 g H2/L for gravimetric
and volumetric system targets, respectively, as well as cost, while the ultimate targets are more stringent
(see Table 1). The difference between system and material-based capacities is noteworthy. Evaluation of a
hydrogen storage system includes all associated components such as tank, valves, piping, insulation,
reactants, among others, while material-based value accounts for only reactants or materials possessing
hydrogen. For example, the material-based capacity of compressed hydrogen tank is 100% because it
contains pure hydrogen, while system capacity drops to 5 wt% when all associated components
mentioned above are accounted for. In the present article, approaches including sorbents, carbon-based
materials, metal hydrides and chemical hydrides provide material-based values unless otherwise noted
because these technologies have not been adopted in actual vehicles yet. Apart from gravimetric and
volumetric targets, DOE has also addressed the challenges associated with various approaches in terms of
meeting key system performance targets, including cost, charge and discharge kinetics, and durability.
There are advantages and dis-advantages for the different approaches and currently no technology meets
all the requirements. Similarly, no current technology meets the US department Energy ultimate targets
and rigorous efforts are underway to develop a cost effective, stable, durable and safe Hydrogen storage
technology. Research on hydrogen storage is being done on a larger scale in order to develop safe,
reliable, compact and cost-effective materials which can be used for fuel cell technology. Like any other
product, hydrogen must be packaged, transported, stored and transferred, to bring it from production to
final use. The main technological problem of a viable hydrogen economy is its storage and so far, finding
a cost-effective method of storing hydrogen remains an indomitable challenge. Hydrogen must be made
more energy dense to be useful for transportation. However, the solutions to the hydrogen storage
problem are surfacing at a fast pace. Scientists are researching innovative ways to store hydrogen. The
capture and release of hydrogen on materials involves molecular adsorption, diffusion, chemical bonding
and Vander Waals attraction and dissociation. Hydrogen can also be adsorbed in molecular/ionic form on
suitable surfaces using pressure, temperature and electro- chemical potential to control its surface
structure and bonding strength.
Objective
My aim of research is to increase the cyclic stability, thermodynamics, kinetics and reaction of Metal
Hydrides especially for Sodium Aluminum Hydrides at low temperatures so that they can be
commercially utilized in PEM Fuel cell vehicles. Presently research work on metal doped-alkali metal
aluminum hydrides and their hydrogen dis-re charging appears attractive field but a lot more information
might be required for the use of Catalyst or combination of catalysts. In spite of favorable perspectives,
there is still a lot of work to be done, especially the conducting of long term cyclic stability tests, until the
practicability of doped alkali metal aluminum hydrides as hydrogen storage materials is proved or
disapproved and this will be my focal area of research.
Scope and Limitations:
This research is just limited and focused to Metal Hydrides hydrogen storage mechanisms and other
storage mechanisms as introduce in “Introduction” section of this report are out of bounds of the topic of
my research.
Methodology:
Many of the existing technologies as well as new ones will be used to increase the metal hydrides
capacity of Hydrogen adsorption desorption cycle kinetics. Three primary strategies, namely,
introduction of appropriate dopants, particle size control, and design of novel reactant mixtures based on
high‐throughput screening methods, will be utilized with the aim of evaluating the potential of metal
hydrides for hydrogen storage applications. A brief review of these three technologies is mentioned below
Introduction of Dopants:
The dehydrogenation thermodynamics is tailored by incorporating a small amount of dopant atoms into
metal hydride systems, and thus, the crystal structures are not significantly changed by the doping
process. In addition, it is relatively simple to identify promising dopants among various dopant
candidates. However, the positioning of dopants in local geometries is a shortcoming, as their positive
impact on the reaction thermodynamics is limited to the corresponding local geometries, making it
impossible for the dopants to have a consistent positive impact throughout the dehydrogenation processes.
Particle size control:
The second strategy, which uses particle size control to improve the reaction thermodynamics, can also
realize improvement of the reaction kinetics. However, the high reactivities of metal hydride
nanoparticles with high surface areas can cause the agglomeration of nanoparticles. This challenging issue
should be resolved to fully utilize the potential of particle size control.
Design of Novel reactant mixtures:
In the third strategy, efforts to identify promising metal hydride mixtures with favorable reaction
thermodynamics through large‐scale screening approaches provide powerful tools to expedite the design
process for promising metal hydride systems. However, a key limitation of this approach is that
predictions cannot be made about reactions involving compounds that are not included in the database of
materials used for the screening process. Another caveat associated with this approach is that it cannot
provide information about situations in which kinetic limitations dictate some details of the reactions
observed experimentally.
The detail of each of these strategies are mentioned in review article mentioned below in reference
section.
Timeline:

Research Phase Timeline

Literature Review June 2018 – August 2018
Methodology Selection September 2018
Fabrication & Testing October 2018 - February 2019
Results Verification March 2019 – April 2019
Write up May 2019

Reference
1-https://sci-hub.tw/https://doi.org/10.1002/er.3919