Nano-Quasicrystals for Hydrogen Storage

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Producing only water as a waste product, sustainable hydrogen could offer credible decarbonisation solutions for energy supply, transport, commercial and domestic sectors. A major barrier to exploitation of hydrogen in energy applications especially vehicles is the lack of a safe, efficient and cost-effective storage system. Quasicrystal (QC) have potential to be a lightweight hydrogen storage material due to their unique multi-shell cluster structure, which provide a high density of interstitial sites to accommodate hydrogen. For example, the typical storage capacity is less than 2H/M (hydrogen atom per metal) in conventional metal/alloy hydrides, in comparison to 3.2 H/M of the theoretical capacity in QC hydrides. A wide range of advanced crystal materials have been investigated for hydrogen storage; yet little is known about QC with respect to energy storage, especially nano-sized QCs. This project aims to develop high-performance nano QC materials for on-board vehicle hydrogen storage. The student will synthesize nano QC via various synthetic methods, such as chemical vapour deposition and physical vapour deposition. The characterisation via XRD, SEM, TEM will reveal the structure of nano QCs. Hydrogen storage properties including capacity, kinetics, thermodynamics and reversibility will be evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, and pressure-composition-isotherm techniques. Working alongside a computational project led by Prof E. Besley, this project will also study the interaction between hydrogen atom and host QC lattice via in-situ powder neutron diffraction to understand the relationship between structure and storage performance, therefore set the design protocol for nano QCs for hydrogen storage.