Paper EN+SE+NS+SS-MoA1
Hydrogen Storage for Automotive Vehicles: Methods and Materials

Monday, October 20, 2008, 2:00 pm, Room 203

Fuel cells operating on hydrogen are a strong potential alternative to internal combustion engines relying on fossil fuels for a variety of reasons. If a hydrogen fuel cell transportation future is to be realized, however, several major hurdles must be overcome, among them a light, compact, robust, and cost-effective system for storing hydrogen on a vehicle. High pressure compressed gas is a viable option, but its implementation on the commercial scale raises serious manufacturing and cost challenges. A similar statement applies to cryogenic liquid storage, for which dormancy is an additional issue. There is justifiable optimism that new materials may offer significant improvement of the prospects for two other options: (1) hybrid approaches combining compressed gas and a high surface area physisorption medium at 77K, and (2) reversible storage near ambient conditions. Progress on the broad materials front as well as recent research at GM R&D will be discussed.