A Novel Hydrogen Storage Technique

Today's energy needs and environmental concerns push §the development of renewable and efficient energy §systems. Fuel cells running on hydrogen are likely to §become these engines. Significant progress has been §made to improve these systems. However, they need to §be backed up by efficient hydrogen storage containers §in order to enable a full hydrogen based economy. §Current storage techniques do not satisfy the needs, §as they were not designed for such an application and §in that extend. Therefore novel storage methods have §recently been subject to many research activities §including this work. The concept proposed herein §features a high pressure tank wall with dual §functionality, as to store some amount of hydrogen §and provide strength at the same time. Basic §structural modeling was performed to determine §required material properties for such a wall with the §aim to lighten the way in pursue of novel materials §for such an application.