There is strong support for hydrogen storage technologies after the US Department of Energy’s Fuel Cell Technologies Program committed $12million to their success.
The funding opportunity will seek to help research and development focused on approaches for pressurised and/or low temperature tank cost reduction and new storage materials; as well as characterisation and performance determination to help address the challenges of bringing hydrogen applications to market.
One key goal is to reduce the cost of hydrogen storage tanks by at least 50 per cent. Currently high pressure storage vessels (350-700bar) are constructed with high strength carbon fibre; so low cost carbon fibre precursors and low cost manufacturing processes may be considered. The DOE wants proposals to focus on cost reduction from novel tank designs and concepts that reduce or eliminate the use of carbon fibre; and the development of low-cost, high strength fibres.
In addition, the DOE is still interested in discovering and developing new materials for advanced hydrogen storage that not only have net available capacities but also suitable reaction rates and output pressures at relevant temperatures.
Finally, the DOE wants proposals for unique material characterisation techniques that could be critical in improving material topics such as catalyst design, reaction mechanisms and kinetics.
