A feasibility study to assess the potential of organic crystals as hydrogen storage materials.

我们寻求开辟一个新的研究领域，以解决能源相关技术中最紧迫的挑战之一：氢储存。一个多世纪以来，人们已经知道，许多刚性有机化合物形成晶体，在其结构中捕获溶剂分子（称为包合物或包合物）。我们相信，从精心挑选的晶体中去除溶剂将提供一种结构非常适合通过吸附有效储存氢的微孔材料。这个建议是高风险的，因为从有机晶体中去除所含溶剂通常会导致结构崩溃，然而，最近的研究表明，并非所有包合物都是如此。我们计划研究六种有前途的晶体，如果稳定，将在目标条件下提供非常重要的氢负荷。研究人员在有机晶体领域的大量专业知识将有助于这些研究，并代表了对能源研究这一具有挑战性的领域的新专业知识的参与。一个成功的研究项目将导致对这一概念的知识产权保护，然后在高影响力的期刊上传播结果。与一家大型汽车制造商的工程部门密切合作，为材料需求提供指导，并为商业开发提供潜在途径。

We seek to open a new research area to tackle one of the most pressing challenges in energy-related technology: hydrogen storage. It has been known for over a century that many rigid organic compounds form crystals that trap solvent molecules within their structures (termed clathrates or inclusion compounds). We believe that removal of the solvent from carefully selected crystals will provide microporous materials of a structure that is perfectly suited to the efficient storage of hydrogen by adsorption. This proposal is high risk because the removal of included solvent from organic crystals often results in the collapse of the structure, however, very recent work has shown that this is not necessarily the case for all clathrates. We plan to investigate six promising crystals, which if stable, will provide very significant loadings of hydrogen under target conditions. The considerable combined expertise of the investigators in the field of organic crystals will assist in these studies and represents an involvement of new expertise to a challenging area of energy research. A successful research programme will lead to IP protection of the concept and then dissemination of the results in high-impact journals. A close collaboration with the engineering division of a major car manufacturer provides guidance on materials requirements and a potential route to commercial exploitation.