A wide array of hydrogen storage solutions
Hydrogen storage basically implies the reduction of enormous volume of the hydrogen gas. There are different storage methods in order to store hydrogen with a high volumetric and gravimetric density: compressed hydrogen in high-pressure tanks, liquid hydrogen, absorbed in metal hydrides, stored in carbon nanotubes or chemically bonded in covalent and ionic compounds.
- The most common storage methods are high pressure tanks but 200 bar compressed hydrogen has a poor storage efficiency so ultra-light but strong new composite materials are being developed to increase energy density.
- Hydrogen can also be stored as liquid at -253 ºC but because of the large amount of energy necessary for the liquefaction of hydrogen the possible applications for liquid hydrogen storage systems are limited.
- Hydrogen sorption in metal hydrides shows safe and efficient storage but heat needs to be supplied during the desorption process.
- Carbon nanotubes are also very good and promising absorbent materials for storage.
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