Faraday Discussion 151: Hydrogen Storage Materials

Faraday Discussion 151: Hydrogen Storage Materials
18 - 20 April 2011
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, Oxon, United Kingdom

Introduction
Hydrogen is widely billed as the fuel of the future. For this to be a reality there is a pressing need for a safe, economic and reliable way to transport hydrogen, particularly for automotive applications. This has prompted a world-wide effort to develop novel materials that are re-usable and capable of storing and releasing significant (> 6 wt%) quantities of hydrogen.
In addition to compressed (either liquid or gaseous) hydrogen, two main themes are being explored: adsorption of hydrogen by materials and "chemical hydrogen" where hydrogen is reacted with a material.
The discussion will focus on both themes, from synthesis and characterisation to application of such novel materials. The focus will be on the wider issues involved in synthetic routes, characterisation, materials properties, rather than simply on examples. The importance of the interplay of theory and experiment will be stressed.

Themes
* Application of theory and spectroscopic methods to understand hydrogenation/dehydrogenation mechanisms
* Novel approaches such as catalysed hydrogenation/dehydrogenation of organic molecules, encapsulation of nanosized materials in carbon or polymers
* Chemical hydrogen: characterisation and properties of main group and transition metal borohydrides and alanates, ternary and quaternary metal hydrides, reactive hydride composites
* Adsorbed/physisorbed hydrogen on or in MOFs, promoted carbons and other materials with large internal or external surface area
* Applications including uses for automotives and novel battery materials

More: http://www.rsc.org/ConferencesAndEvents/RSCConferences/FD151/index.asp