General Techniques for Increasing Packing Density of Metal-Organic Frameworks for Enhanced Volumetric Storage of Hydrogen

Techniquestoincreasethedensityofporousmaterialsincludingmetal-­organicframeworks (MOFs) are needed if porous materials are to realize their potential in volumetric hydrogen storage- Improvements in volumetric storage will bring porous materials closer to adoption in fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs)- Considerable research effort has been deployed in the discovery of porous materials for hydrogen storage in FCEVs- In contrast, a relatively small amount of time has been invested in improving the volumetric storage of these porous materials- As a result, this is now seen as one of the key weaknesses in bringing this technology to market- Under this grant, NuMat Technologies (NuMat) will address this problem by developing formation techniques to significantly enhance the volumetric hydrogen storage capacity of MOFs- A range of generalizable techniques that can be applied to a wide range of MOFs will be developed under this SBIR at NuMat- This will be achieved utilizing the preexisting foundation in formation techniques that has already been established at NuMat- Most importantly, increases in density of packed hydrogen storage MOFs will be accomplished without adversely altering performance- NuMat is a company dedicated to the commercialization of adsorbent-­based systems that utilize MOFs- To achieve this goal a multidisplinary has been assembled that includes chemists, engineers, adsorption specialist and commercial product managers- This team has successfully developed ION-­X®, a platformforlow-­pressuregasdensificationandthefirstMOF-­enabledproductintheworld-While the promise of MOFs has been well documented in academia, commercialization complexities exist in the ability to form, package, and activate MOFs into fully integrated systems- As an application developer with MOF expertise, NuMat has extensive experience in designing engineered adsorption systems and is uniquely positioned to successfully achieve project deliverables- For example, through optimizing formation techniques in ION-­X® product, generated significant know-­how and intellectual property in densification techniques- This work has continued through our development of next generation separation systems which require tight controls of particle size and packing densities in a sieve bed- Critically, NuMat is the only company in the world with a ISO 9001 certified assembly line dedicated to integrating MOFs into gas storage and separation systems- This work will develop further under this SBIR with a focus on volumetric hydrogen storage for FCEVs-