Chemist seeks way to make hydrogen stick
Saturday, November 05, 2005
"A chemist at Washington University in St. Louis hopes to find the right stuff to put the element hydrogen in a sticky situation. Lev Gelb, Ph.D., Washington University assistant professor of chemistry, prepares theoretical models of molecules that may be used to store and transport hydrogen gas. "The idea here is to create materials composed of molecules hydrogen likes to stick to," said Gelb. "If hydrogen stuck to these particles you could carry around the substance, along with the hydrogen." Such a substance would have to be relatively light-weight and very porous, having a high surface area, in order to adsorb as much hydrogen as possible. Then it is hoped that the hydrogen can be removed at the site of combustion by applying some low-energy force such as a vacuum. "The problem is that as far as we know, nothing is sticky enough without being too heavy," said Gelb." Source: wustl.edu
posted by Frank @ 10:30 AM,
