**Meet the editor**

Dr Jianjun Liu received his Ph. D in Physical Chemistry from the Institute of theoretical chemistry, Jilin University, China, in 2002. He subsequently went on to research activity as a postdoctoral fellow at the Cherry L. Emerson Center for Scientific Computation at the Emory University. Then He became an assistant scientist at the Southern Illinois University, working on computational

simulation on complex metal hydrides as hydrogen storage. In 2011, he joined the faculty as an Associate Professor at the State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure at shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Science. He has been active in various organizations and has co-authored over 30 papers and 3 book chapters, as well as has been awarded several national awards and visiting fellows. Dr. Liu's research is focused on computational modeling microscopic structures as well as physical and chemical properties of nanomaterials in hydrogen storage and lithium-ion batteries.

Contents

**Preface IX** 

**Section 1 Chemical Hydrogen Storage Materials 1** 

**Nanostructures and Nanoscale Complex Hydrides for Reversible Hydrogen Storage 3**  Sesha S. Srinivasan and Prakash C. Sharma

**Properties of Complex Metal Hydride 29** 

**Crystalline Solids for Fuel Processing 49** 

**in Solidified Aluminosilicate Gels and Microporous** 

Chapter 1 **Development of Novel Polymer** 

Chapter 2 **Improvement on Hydrogen Storage** 

Jianjun Liu and Wenqing Zhang

Chapter 3 **Enclosure of Sodium Tetrahydroborate (NaBH4)** 

Josef-Christian Buhl, Lars Schomborg

**Performances of Nanocrystalline and Amorphous Mg2Ni-Type Alloys 91**  Yanghuan Zhang, Hongwei Shang, Chen Zhao

and Claus Henning Rüscher

and Dongliang Zhao

Kazuhide Tanaka

Chapter 6 **Application of Ionic Liquids in** 

Chapter 4 **The Preparation and Hydrogen Storage** 

Chapter 5 **Hydrogen Storage Properties and Structure** 

**Melt-Spinning Technique 119** 

**Hydrogen Storage Systems 147**  Sebastian Sahler and Martin H.G. Prechtl

**of Magnesium-Based Alloys Prepared with** 

## Contents

#### **Preface XI**


Sebastian Sahler and Martin H.G. Prechtl

#### X Contents


Rahul Krishna, Elby Titus, Maryam Salimian, Olena Okhay, Sivakumar Rajendran, Ananth Rajkumar, J. M. G. Sousa, A. L. C. Ferreira, João Campos Gil and Jose Gracio

## Preface

Energy storage became a dominant factor in economic development with the widespread introduction of electricity and refined chemical fuels in the later 1800s. Chemical fuels are the dominant form of energy storage, both in electrical generation and energy transportation. Chemical fuels in common use are processed fossil fuels in the form of coal, oil, and natural gas. The world energy consumption has been constantly increasing since the industrial revolution. However, the supply of fossil fuel is limited. Furthermore, the use of fossil fuel puts human health at risk through chemical and particulate pollutants and affects global climate through CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions. Hydrogen, as a chemical energy carrier, is widely regarded as a potential cost effective, renewable, and clean energy alternative to petroleum, especially in the transportation sector. Hydrogen storage is becoming a key component of realizing the hydrogen economy for transportation applications.

Emerging nanotechnology has generated a significant influence to many fields. Scientists always think, work, and interact to fabricate and optimize new materials and processes in nanometer scale. In turn, these novel nanomaterials and nanostructures are employed to design real devices, therefore, offering unprecedented efficiency or function compared to conventional bulk phase materials. In the recent years, nanotechnology has extensively applied to develop novel hydrogen storage materials. To reflect the rapid growth of these research in hydrogen storage nanomaterials, this book entitled by "Hydrogen Storage Materials through Nanotechnology" summarize the recent research progress in this field.

In the past years, there are many books already available covering different topics, nanotechnology or hydrogen storage. However, none summarizes the specific topic with emphasis on nanotechnology applied to improve hydrogen storage properties. It is believed that this book can be suitable as a desk reference related to energy storage materials for scientific researchers, government and organizations, as well as industrial R&D labs. This book includes 10 chapters which are divided into two categories, physical and chemical hydrogen storage materials. Each chapter is written by world-leading scientific experts working in nanotechnology and hydrogen storage, the editor made a great effort to ensure the accuracy and appropriateness of the

#### X Preface

materials collected and any comments and suggestions to improve potential future editions are welcome.

> **Lianjun Liu**  Southern Illinois University USA

X Preface

editions are welcome.

materials collected and any comments and suggestions to improve potential future

**Lianjun Liu** 

USA

Southern Illinois University

**Section 1** 

**Chemical Hydrogen Storage Materials** 

**Chemical Hydrogen Storage Materials** 

**Chapter 1** 

© 2012 Srinivasan and Sharma, licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2012 Srinivasan and Sharma, licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**Development of Novel Polymer Nanostructures** 

This book chapter discusses about (i) the characteristics of hydrogen – a clean and renewable fuel, (ii) the grand challenges in hydrogen storage in reversible solid state hydrides, the current technical targets set forth by the US Department of Energy and the FreedomCAR, (iii) current state of hydrogen storage (Broom, 2011), (iv) various types of hydrogen storage methods and modes (Bowman & Stetson, 2010; Sathyapal et. al., 2007). Among the different methods of hydrogen storage, the current book chapter aims to address two important hydrogen storage methods such as physisorbed hydrogen storage via polymer nanostructures and chemisorbed hydrogen storage via complex chemical hydrides. The experimental approaches of synthesizing the solid state hydrides using mechanochemical milling, wet chemical synthesis and electrospinning are discussed. Extensive metrological characterization techniques such X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Thermal Programmed Desorption (TPD), Pressure-Composition-Temperature Isotherms (PCT) are employed to unravel the structural, microstructural, chemical, thermal and volumetric behavior of these materials. The major results based on the structure-property relations are discussed in detail. In summary, a comparative study of various solid state hydrides investigated for reversible hydrogen storage are discussed with potential hydrogen fuel cell applications.

As traditional fossil fuel supplies are dwindling and carbon emissions derived from burning these fuels are being blamed for global weather changes, it is becoming increasingly important to find alternative energy sources. While there are clean and renewable energy production methods, such as wind and solar energy, there is yet to be found a clean and safe

**and Nanoscale Complex Hydrides for** 

**Reversible Hydrogen Storage** 

Sesha S. Srinivasan and Prakash C. Sharma

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/50171

**1. Introduction** 
