Materials Used in Storing Green Hydrogen: Challenges and Developments

As we have seen earlier

Green hydrogen, hailed as a cornerstone of the clean energy future by being an alternative to fossil fuels considering its calorific value for application in areas like manufacturing, transportation, electricity generation, etc.

As noted earlier,

Green Hydrogen has issues linked to production, storage, transportation & distribution.

In this post, let us look into the how the storage issue is being dealt with using materials science as the driving force for the same:

High-Strength Steels and Alloys:

• These materials are used in pressurized hydrogen storage tank as they can withstand high pressures (up to 700 bar) without suffering from hydrogen embrittlement (reason for cracks and leaks) to a lot of extent
• Despite this, further advancement to circumvent the issue of embrittlement is a significant engineering challenge.

Carbon Fiber Composites:

• They offer a lightweight alternative for high-pressure hydrogen storage by reducing the weight of storage tanks, improving energy efficiency, especially for mobile applications like hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
• Carbon fiber composites are expensive to produce, and their long-term durability under cyclic loading conditions remains a concern

Metal Hydrides:

• They can store hydrogen at relatively low pressures by chemically bonding hydrogen atoms
• Materials such as magnesium hydride or sodium alanate have high storage densities
• The challenges linked to this category of materials for storage is linked to speed(kinetics) of hydrogen absorption and desorption, the need for high temperatures to release bonded hydrogen, and the degradation of the material (hydride) when used over multiple cycles.

Advanced Polymers:

• They are used in liners and seals to prevent hydrogen leakage from storage tanks as hydrogen tends to seep out easily
• These materials are impermeable to hydrogen, flexible, and resistant to extreme temperatures
• Despite the advantages – developing these kind of polymers in a cost-effective way is a complex materials science problem.

Overcoming the challenges linked to each material used for Green Hydrogen storage through innovative material science and engineering solutions is vital for the effective storage and widespread adoption way for a cleaner energy future.

Hope this gives an idea about the materials linked to Green Hydrogen Storage (that have potential to change the timeline linked to Green Hydrogen Adoption)

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