A Novel Hydrogen Storage Technique: Modeling against Commercial Targets

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.