I-Corps: Metal hydride technology to miniaturize and provide new cooling or heating solutions

I-Corps项目的更广泛/商业潜力是开发可重复使用的金属氢化物储能装置。该项目将为广泛的市场提供一种紧凑而廉价的冷却装置。金属氢化物技术的潜在应用是在电池、储氢材料和热能储存中，以利用多余的能量并提供按需可持续能源。目前基于金属氢化物的设备存储设备大多只能在极端温度下工作，这限制了它们在传统存储系统中的应用。因此，需要开发在环境条件下使用的存储设备的策略。提出的技术可能为能源存储提供一种有效的方法，这将是未来清洁能源技术的关键推动因素。这个I-Corps项目开发了一种由一对合金和氢之间的固气反应驱动的冷却装置。金属氢化物的储氢是通过金属间合金相完成的，金属间合金相具有在金属晶格的间隙位置吸收和储存原子氢的能力。迫使金属间合金相释放吸收的氢导致吸热反应，从而导致冷却。研究了各种金属氢化物，以确定氢的吸收/解吸途径，并确定在接近环境条件的平衡下脱氢反应所必需的热力学要求。初步结果表明，在环境条件下，金属氢化物可充电1万次，容量损失仅为10%。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a reusable metal hydride-based device for energy storage. The project will provide a compact and inexpensive cooling device for a wide range of markets. Potential applications of the metal hydride technology are in batteries, hydrogen storage materials, and thermal energy storage to harness excess energy and provide on-demand sustainable energy. Current metal hydride-based device storage devices largely work only at temperature extremes, which limit their application in conventional storage systems. Thus, strategies are needed to develop storage devices for use at ambient conditions. The proposed technology may provide an efficient method for energy storage that will be a key enabler for future clean energy technologies.This I-Corps project develops a cooling device that is driven by solid-gas reactions between a pair of alloys and hydrogen. Hydrogen storage by metal hydrides is accomplished by an intermetallic alloy phase that has the ability to absorb and store atomic hydrogen in interstitial sites of the metal lattice. Forcing the intermetallic alloy phase to release the absorbed hydrogen leads to an endothermic reaction which results in cooling. Various metal hydrides have been investigated to determine the hydrogen absorption/desorption pathways and to identify the thermodynamic requirements necessary for dehydrogenation reactions with an equilibrium close to ambient conditions. Preliminary results have shown that at ambient conditions the metal hydride can be recharged 10,000 times with only 10% loss of capacity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.