CleanBeta

Microballoons Carry Hydrogen in Gasoline Infrastructure

Hydrogen gas stations might not be relegated to the dustbin of bad ideas after all.

A new-class of materials developed by researchers at Savannah River National Laboratory and revealed for the first time in an article published in the June issue of The Bulletin, might hold the key to making America’s gasoline infrastructure compatible with hydrogen-based vehicles.

The new materials are glass microspheres, which look like eggs and move much like water, carry catalysts and obscure nanostructures might also have useful applications in detecting nuclear and global warming technologies.

In particular, researchers believe the material might be able to detect the presence of nuclear development in a wide area. The material, called Porous Wall-Hollow Glass Microspheres (PW-HGM), is essentially a collection of glass ‘microballoons.’

Scientists at SRNL have developed techniques that make the microspheres absorb hydrogen or other reactive gases through their porous exteriors, creating a relatively safe, contained, solid-state storage system. These glass-absorbent composites also reveal that the wall porosity generates entirely new nano-structures.

The microballoons also have unique mechanical properties that make them flow like a liquid and suggests that they are compatible with existing infrastructure that currently transports, stores and distributes gasoline.