The US Department of Energy (DOE) has determined that the next H-Prize will be awarded in the area of storage materials in mobile systems for light-duty vehicles. Lack of a suitable storage material has been identified as major factor limiting hydrogen-fueled vehicle commercialization. The H-Prize, enacted by Congress, authorized the Secretary of Energy to create a program to competitively award cash prizes that will advance the commercial application of hydrogen energy technologies by dramatizing and incentivizing accelerated research.
A single amount of $1 million will be awarded for the development of an on-board hydrogen storage material that meets or exceeds a set of performance targets specified in the competition announcement.
DOE believes the success of this contest can help to accelerate the widespread commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cells in the long term and complement the near-term focus on fuel cells for early markets such as stationary and backup power, portable power, and forklifts auxiliary power.
Technical evaluation criteria for breakthrough hydrogen storage materials have been defined -
- Goal is for a material that has the potential to be an on-board rechargeable hydrogen storage material.
- Gravimetric capacity of greater than 7.5 weight percent releasable hydrogen:
- Reversible H2 capacity between -40 to +85 degrees C, and between 1.5 to 150 bar H2 pressure.
- Volumetric capacity of greater than 70 g/liter total releasable hydrogen:
- i.e., total volume of H2 ab/adsorbed by the solid plus the pressurized hydrogen contained within the pore spaces all divided by the total sample volume including the material’s skeletal volume.
- Charging kinetics: greater than or equal to 4×10-4 (i.e. 0.0004) grams of hydrogen per gram of material per second:
- Charging kinetics are to be measured with an inlet hydrogen gas temperature of between -40 to +85 degrees C and an inlet hydrogen pressure of not greater than 150 bar.
- Discharge kinetics: greater than or equal to 2×10-5 (i.e. 0.00002) grams of hydrogen per gram of material per second:
- Discharge kinetics are to be measured at a sample temperature between -40 to + 85 degrees C and with an outlet hydrogen pressure of greater than or equal to 1.5 bar.
- Cycle life: 100 cycles:
- At completion of 100 charge/ discharge cycles from less than 5% to greater than 95% of reversible capacity, the sample’s reversible capacity must still be greater than or equal to 95% of the gravimetric capacity target (i.e. ≥ 0.95 times 7.5 wt.% or ≥ 7.1 wt.%).
Prospective participants must register by February 15, 2010, and submit material samples for testing by November 15, 2010 to be eligible. For more information, visit the H-Prize website.
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