scientists have identified a polymer with a very large capacity for storing hydrogen that could be exploited in fuel cells. After a series of computer simulations, Jisoon Ihm and colleagues at the Seoul National University in South Korea discovered that polyacetylene with titanium atoms attached to the polymer chain can hold 63 kg of hydrogen per cubic metre -- more than any other similar material in their survey.
A low-cost, high-capacity hydrogen-storage medium is essential for commercialising hydrogen fuel-cell technologies. A large storage capacity is being predicted because numerous hydrogen molecules are attracted to the metal atoms that lie along the polymer chain. Using a series of electronic-structure calculations, the physicists looked at a wide combination of metal atoms, polymers and bonding sites for the hydrogen atoms.
The researchers found that a form of polyacetylene 'decorated' with titanium atoms was the best.This molecule consists of a series of carbon atoms linked together in a chain by alternating single and double bonds. Each carbon atom has one hydrogen atom that can be replaced by a particular atom like titanium.
"Our results will have considerable importance for experimentalists and engineers to synthesise metal-decorated polymers for hydrogen storage," Ihm said. Researchers had previously looked at carbon nanotubes and other nanostructured materials as ways of storing hydrogen, but they only work in fuel cells at low temperatures or high pressures.
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