Aerogel and its applications

DesertSands

Does anyone know if it is possible to store hydrogen in aerogels?

DesertSands

If so, is there a known catalyst that will free the hydrogen?

JGM_14

Yes, but it would not likely retain the hydrogen very long or at all. Hydrogen can diffuse through solid metal, hydride technologies are a much better option. If you were to use aerogel you would probably have to inpregnate hydrogen into it, seal it, seal it again, then to release it you would have to dissolve the sealent, and place it under a vacuum to get all the hydrogen out, good idea though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_economy
Aerogel is better suited to applications like supercapicators, thermal insulation ect.

DesertSands

I have been trying to devise a possible outcome where it would be possible to apply 8.2Kg or there abouts into an aquivilant to 60 Litre tank or cell. Depending on design requirements. I have looked into the properties of Hydrogen and it's retention properties with applications such as diamond film studied by Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, various metal alloys studied by various universities and even research by the Oiho University of a form of Polymeric foam which was partially funded by DaimlerChrysler to understand the most effective method to date.
To date I realise that the best form of conductive metals available is platinum nickel which produces the most amount of Hydrogen while conserving the most energy.

So I thought perhaps with aerogel having an awesome property which would allow 95-99% storage capacity for hydrogen gas being as mentioned above inpregnated into the aerogel, it would have the most logical application for Hydrogen.

Problem is of course aerogel is very costly at the moment to produce until it's application for other areas are realised by industry and also I havent heard of anyone trying this as yet for a hydrogen application.

Any ideas?
I like the idea of the sealant and applying a kind of vacuum to it, perhaps a carborator could acheive the vacuum?

Cheers

JGM_14

Have chunks of hydrogen impregnated aerogel in a holding container with an auto feeding system into a basin of solvent with a vacuum drawn on it. After so long the spent aerogel, still under a vacuum, go to a seperate holding container to be recharged later. The sealnt would need to be a material that would dry hard and strong yet when dissolved not form a gel, or a sticky mess when you want to change it out.

A specially designed carburator would be the best but a regular carburator, provided some holes are pluged, would work.