SBIR Phase I: Diamondoid-Containing Carbon Nanostructures as Hydrogen Storage Materials

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project aims at developing a novel diamondoid/promoter/carbonaceous nanostructure with enhanced hydrogen storage capability, through simultaneously increasing their pore sizes and hydrogen binding abilities, as potential on-board hydrogen storage materials. Developing compact, lightweight, safe and affordable on-board hydrogen storage media is a crucial step towards the eventual implementation of hydrogen as transportation fuel. It has been demonstrated that a pure, undoped carbon single-walled nanotube at room temperature cannot meet the targeted criterion as the on-board hydrogen storage materials. The success of this Phase I project could demonstrate that a ""hybrid"" approach including increasing available surface areas and increasing binding energies of carbonaceous materials could enhance the hydrogen uptake capacity of carbon-based nanomaterials and thus could lead to a commercially viable pathway for hydrogen fuel application in transportation. Successful development of on-board hydrogen storage materials will greatly boost the domestic ""Hydrogen Economy."" Utilization of hydrogen, a renewable and clean energy, as fuel for transportation vehicles or other mobile power supplies will greatly benefit not only the national economy but also the national energy security and environmental protection. Therefore, it can be anticipated that intense interest will be drawn from industry and government as well as academia if the feasibility of the approach for producing novel on-board hydrogen storage materials is successfully validated. This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).