Materials that can extract hydrogen at low temperatures University of Tokyo eliminates the need for precious metal catalysts

 Professor Yusuke Sunada of the University of Tokyo and his colleagues have developed a technology that can generate and store hydrogen under mild conditions at room temperature without using a precious metal catalyst. It uses a compound of germanium and an iron-based catalyst and operates at lower temperatures than conventional methods. It is expected to be a new hydrogen storage method that operates safely and energy-savingly.

It was jointly developed with the Kanagawa Prefectural Institute of Industrial Science and Technology. Germanium hydride reacts with an iron-based catalyst to extract and store hydrogen. Hydrogen can be extracted at a temperature of about 50 to 80 degrees Celsius, and the reverse reaction, hydrogen storage, is possible even at 0 degrees Celsius at 1 atmosphere.

Compared to methylcyclohexane (MCH) and ammonia, which have been used to generate and store hydrogen, it operates at lower temperatures and is safer. MCH requires a temperature of about 150 to 300 degrees when extracting hydrogen. It is relatively easy to extract hydrogen from ammonia, but a lot of energy is required to store hydrogen. According to Professor Sunada, with this method, ``waste heat from factories can be used to extract hydrogen, so there is little energy loss.''

However, germanium is a rare metal, and if used in large quantities as a hydrogen carrier, it becomes expensive. Research is underway to see if a similar reaction can be achieved with silicon, which is relatively inexpensive and has similar properties to germanium.