DESIGN OF NOVEL NANOPOROUS MATERIALS FOR HYDROGEN STORAGE

The main obstacle for the commercial development of fuel-cell powered vehicles is the efficient storage of hydrogen. Presently, the required capacity of hydrogen storage materials for practical applications has not been met. A variety of techniques are being investigated for hydrogen storage in vehicles. One of the most promising methods is the adsorption of 2 in porous materials.

We aim to design, synthesize and evaluate new nanoporous materials for hydrogen sorption, through a combination of theoretical and experimental techniques of physics and chemistry.

Three basic steps will be needed to satisfy the final objective:

1. Computational design and theoretical study of hydrogen sorption in nanoporous materials in order to propose ways to enhance its efficiency.
2. Synthesis and characterization of novel porous materials that are expected (theoretically) to have high storage capacity.
3. Experimental study of hydrogen sorption in the novel synthesized nanoporous materials.

The above strategy will be applied to novel nanoporous materials that belong to two categories: Nanomaterials based on intercalated graphene "Metal" Organic Frameworks (MOFs).

The proposed research methodology will lead to significant progress in:

• Development of combined theoretical and experimental approaches that will allow linking of the structure and reactivity of materials with their storage capability, targeting the design of materials with optimal capacity.
• Synthesis of new and improvement of existing materials with desired properties primarily for hydrogen storage.
• Development of materials that will approach or surpass the international set targets for hydrogen storage.