High-capacity hydrogen storage breakthrough

Hydrogen has been touted as a promising alternative to fossil fuels since the 1970s due to its clean combustion.

But to replace the gasoline as a fuel, hydrogen must be safely and densely stored and easily accessed.

Limited by materials unable to leap these conflicting hurdles, hydrogen storage technology has lagged behind other clean energy candidates.

Now, scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have achieved a breakthrough in this regard.

They have designed a new composite material for hydrogen storage consisting of nanoparticles of magnesium metal sprinkled through a matrix of polymethyl methacrylate, a polymer related to Plexiglas.