11-02/03 :: February / March 2011

nanotimes News in Brief

Hydrogen Storage // Berkeley Lab Scientists Achieve Breakthrough in Nanocomposite for High-Capacity Hydrogen Storage

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cientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laborato-

ry (Berkeley Lab) have designed a new composite material for hydrogen storage consisting of nano- particles of magnesium metal sprinkled through a matrix of polymethyl methacrylate, a polymer rela- ted to Plexiglas. This pliable nanocomposite rapidly absorbs and releases hydrogen at modest tempera- tures without oxidizing the metal after cycling – a major break-through in materials design for hydrogen storage, batteries and fuel cells.

“This work showcases our ability to design composite nanoscale materials that overcome fundamental ther- modynamic and kinetic barriers to realize a materials combination that has been very elusive historically,” says Jeff Urban, Deputy Director of the Inorganic Nanostructures Facility at the Molecular Foundry, a DOE Office of Science nanoscience center and na- tional user facility located at Berkeley Lab. “Moreo- ver, we are able to productively leverage the unique properties of both the polymer and nanoparticle in this new composite material, which may have broad applicability to related problems in other areas of energy research.”

Urban, along with coauthors Ki-Joon Jeon and Chri- stian Kisielowski used the TEAM 0.5 microscope at

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From left, a scientific team that included Christian Kisiel- owski, Anne Ruminski, Rizia Bardhan and Jeff Urban has achieved a major breakthrough in the development nano- composites for high-capacity hydrogen storage. Team members not shown are Ki-Joon Jeon and Hoi Ri Moon. © Roy Kaltschmidt, Berkeley Lab Public Affairs

the National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM) to observe individual magnesium nanocrystals dispersed throughout the polymer. With the high- resolution imaging capabilities of TEAM 0.5, the world’s most powerful electron microscope, the researchers were also able to track defects – atomic vacancies in an otherwise-ordered crystalline fra- mework – providing unprecedented insight into the behavior of hydrogen within this new class of storage materials.