Hy-MAP 2.0 - Hydrogen mapping in hydrogen storage materials

日益增长的环境挑战使脱碳成为全球优先事项。可再生能源是脱碳的关键，但其广泛部署需要 ** 足够的储能技术 ** 来平衡间歇性可再生能源供应与电力需求的不匹配。为了实现这一目标，氢被认为是一种非常合适的可再生能源载体。众所周知，氢很难储存，因为传统的储存方法需要极端的条件（例如高压或低温）。在H2GO，我们开发并部署了一种固态储氢技术，这种技术是传统储氢技术的一种更安全、更便宜、更密集的替代方案。我们的技术利用氢与其他分子形成的可逆化学键，允许在循环中存储和释放氢 ** 数千次 **。然而，在我们的专利存储技术中应用这些循环时，当我们的存储材料暴露在氧气和水分子中时，我们观察到了氧化效应。（例如，空气中存在的水分），这会影响它们的性能和寿命。随着我们扩大生产规模，我们的手动反应器灌装工艺 ** 需要升级为自动化工艺 **，同时 ** 减轻灌装过程中的任何氧化效应 **。因此，了解氧化的确切影响以及它们最有可能发生的时间将允许有针对性地填充我们的反应器，从而使我们的产品更有效和更有竞争力。利用国家物理实验室（NPL）最先进的设施和制备参比气体的专业知识，我们将对我们的储存材料进行 ** 这些氧化效应的详细调查 **，提供最合适的自动灌装工艺的有价值的信息。我们将使用纳米SIMS（二次离子质谱法）来确定一组特别制备的参考气体引起的氧化的影响和程度。西姆斯是 ** 能够以100 nm的空间分辨率绘制氢和氧同位素分布图 ** 的罕见技术之一。我们将使用这种方法来 ** 研究我们的储氢材料与氧气和水分子的关系 ** 以及它们可能给我们的材料带来的影响。全球 ** 只有 ** 少数实验室 ** 拥有这些能力和专业知识 **，因此NPL有能力承担这些测量挑战。

The growing environmental challenges have made decarbonisation a global priority. Renewable energy is key for decarbonisation, but their broad deployment requires **sufficient energy storage technologies** to balance the mismatch of intermittent renewable supply with electricity demand. Towards this goal, hydrogen has been rightfully acknowledged as a highly suitable renewable energy carrier.Hydrogen is **notoriously difficult to store**, as conventional storage methods require extreme conditions (e.g. high pressures or low temperatures). At H2GO we have **developed and deployed** a solid-state hydrogen storage technology that is a **safer, cheaper and denser alternative** to conventional storage technologies. Our technology exploits the reversible chemical bond that hydrogen forms with other molecules, allowing for storing and releasing hydrogen in cycles to be carried out **several thousand times**.However, while applying these cycles in our patented storage technology, we observed an **oxidation effect** when our storage materials are **exposed to oxygen and water molecules** (e.g. moisture present in air) which can affect their performance and lifetime. As we scale up production, our manual reactor filling process **needs to be upgraded to an automated process** while **mitigating any oxidation effects** during filling. Thus understanding the exact effects of oxidation and when they are most likely to occur will allow a targeted process for filling our reactors, in turn making our product more efficient and competitive.Using the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) state-of-art facilities and expertise in preparing reference gases, we will carry out **a detailed investigation of these oxidation effects** for our storage materials, providing valuable information on the most suitable automatic filling process to adopt.We will be using nano-SIMS (Secondary Ions Mass Spectrometry), to define the effects and extent of oxidation caused by a set of specially prepared reference gases. SIMS is **one of the rare techniques that can map the distribution of hydrogen and oxygen isotopes**, at 100 nm spatial resolution. We will use this method to **examine the relation of our hydrogen storage materials with oxygen and water molecules** together with the effects that they may bring to our materials.There are **few laboratories globally** that have these capabilities and expertise **all under one roof**, and thus NPL is well positioned to undertake these measurement challenges.