Hydrogen car ahead of breakthrough thanks to ingenious material: Ciao, e-car!

Created: 05/06/2022, 09:01

By: Christian Einfeldt

The hydrogen car gets completely new future possibilities.

A German research team is revolutionizing hydrogen storage for propulsion.

Geesthacht/Hamburg – If you believe current studies, it is clear what the car industry should focus on in the future: Around a third of Germans want to drive with hydrogen in the future.

A vote that clearly speaks out against the combustion engine.

But the respondents are just as unwilling to rely on e-mobility.

Hydrogen-powered vehicles should therefore be the future.

However, methods of getting them onto the streets have always been questioned.

A research team from Geesthacht has now succeeded in developing an innovative technology for storing hydrogen.

Science could thus have taken a giant step towards an emission-free future.

Hydrogen car versus electric car: German researchers achieve milestone with polymers

When it comes to hydrogen cars, the many challenges quickly come into focus.

Since temperatures of around minus 250 degrees are required to store hydrogen, e-mobility was able to assert itself as the supposedly only alternative to the combustion engine for a long time.

The other option for feeding in hydrogen so that it can be used to power a vehicle is gaseous storage. However, this requires high pressure.

However, according to information from the online portal “E-Fahrer”, such compressed gas tanks for hydrogen cars are so large that they simply cannot be integrated into the vehicles.

Revolution for the hydrogen car: Researchers from Hamburg's Helmut Schmidt University involved

So it seemed like there were too many obstacles standing in the way of a future with hydrogen cars.

However, the discoveries made by a research team from Geesthacht in cooperation with the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg could now solve the biggest problems - and ensure that a large number of hydrogen cars can soon be put on the road, as the kreiszeitung reports. de reported.

Hydrogen car before breakthrough?

Innovative idea promises breakthrough thanks to greater hydrogen storage

It is already becoming apparent that the energy crisis is bringing hydrogen propulsion forward - the hydrogen car could become a big beneficiary.

In view of current developments, e-mobility seems less attractive than ever, if only because electric cars are becoming an absolute scarce commodity: manufacturers have to stop selling e-cars.

Another reason is of course the explosion in fuel and gas prices, which of course is also reflected in the charging prices for electric vehicles.

The market could soon rely on a material that “e-fahrer” describes as a “future storage material for hydrogen”.

Hydrogen cars: Researchers discovered an innovative idea to release more energy.

(Iconic image) © Joerg Boethling/Imago

Hydrogen revolution: metal hybrid stores twice as much energy in the tank

Specifically, it is about metal hybrids, powdered metal compounds that can absorb about twice as much hydrogen as a 700 bar pressure tank.

According to "e-fahrer", the Helmholtz Center "Hereon" in Geesthacht has already demonstrated that these hybrids can hold up to 50 percent more hydrogen than conventional tanks.

This could give the debate about hydrogen propulsion completely new impetus.

As before, the development of a German company that can revolutionize the hydrogen engine because a new innovation does not require a battery or fuel cells.

The process, which has already been patented, promises progress.

The head of the Institute for Materials Research at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Thomas Klaasen, explains what is behind the processes: "If these hydrides release the stored hydrogen during discharge, they react with one another, releasing energy." This means that the temperature for discharging is lower necessary - the system becomes more energy efficient.

Which hydrogen cars already exist?

Which manufacturers rely on hydrogen

So the prospects for hydrogen technology are not too bad.

As reported by "e-fahrer", the car manufacturers Toyota, Hyundai and Honda have also confirmed plans for the further development of hydrogen cars.

At the moment there are only a few models on the market that are powered by H2: the Hyundai Nexo, the Toyota Mirai and the Toyota Mirai 2. But that could change dramatically in the foreseeable future.

General Motors is also working on the hydrogen car: in 2024 the first pick-up trucks will already have a hydrogen engine and German researchers have developed a hydrogen hybrid car with a sensational range of 1,000 km.

What speaks against hydrogen cars?

The Hereon Institute of the Heimholtz Center solves the biggest problem

The research around the scientists Thomas Klaasen and Volker Abetz, head of the Hereon Institute for Membrane Research, is groundbreaking, as previous technical obstacles and old errors could be cleared out of the way.

Previous attempts to charge metal hybrids with hydrogen resulted in the formation of oxygen, a major obstacle to the effectiveness of hydrogen propulsion.

Because the hybrids could only react insufficiently in combination with the oxygen, and energy could not be released sufficiently.

The team led by Volker Abetz was therefore looking for a way to only allow hydrogen but no oxygen to pass through.

The addition of a polymer solved the problem.

Using the so-called scanning electron microscope technique, the researchers not only obtained confirmation - they were also able to follow the hydrogen bonding processes even better.

Researchers are enthusiastic: New materials do “an excellent job”

The conclusion of researcher Klaasen: The "new" polymers do "an excellent job".

Volker Abetz is also enthusiastic.

In an official Hereon press release, the scientist confirmed that "different types of metal hybrids can now be easily distinguished from one another".

There is also hope that there are "very different materials" that are capable of storing hydrogen.

There are increasing signs that the cars of the future could actually be powered by hydrogen.