A strategy to stack more hydrogen in nanoscale, zinc-based box scaffoldings may ultimately replace fossil fuels in vehicles, U.S. scientists report.
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology used beams of neutrons as probes to determine where hydrogen latches onto the lattice-like arrangement of zinc and oxygen clusters in a custom-made material known as a metal-organic framework.
Scientists said that MOF nanoscale material has four types of docking sites, including a "surprising" three-dimensional network of "nano-cages" that appears to form after other sites load with hydrogen.
The finding, said scientists, suggests MOF materials might be engineered to optimize both the storage of hydrogen and its release under normal vehicle operating conditions. It also suggests MOFs might be used as templates for interlinking hydrogen nano-cages, creating materials with unusual properties due to a phenomenon known as quantum confinement.
The study is reported in the journal Physical Review Letters.
