Eye On East AsiaNicol HighwayOrigin of Species
AUG 17, 2004 TUE
Archived Issues
3day archive
For stories beyond 3 days
SaturdaySundayMonday

Tech & Science
PRINT-READYTALK TO USE-MAIL ARTICLE

NUS team may have key to drive hydrogen economy

It is working on storing hydrogen in a solid medium - lithium nitride; the method is safer and more cost-effective than others

By Christopher Tan

IN A makeshift laboratory in the National University of Singapore (NUS), a team led by a young researcher is working on what could well become the Microsoft of the so-called hydrogen economy.

Dr Chen Ping, a 36-year-old chemist from China's Shandong province, is spearheading research into storing hydrogen in a solid medium, lithium nitride, and releasing it on demand - like electricity from a battery.

The conventional ways of keeping the gas, seen as the answer to the world's need for a fuel that will not pollute, are to either compress it or turn it into a liquid by freezing it.

The new method, if perfected, will address the cost and safety issues associated with the other two.

'Compressing hydrogen uses up a lot of energy,' Dr Chen said. 'And for a hydrogen car to cover 480km, which is the United States Department of Energy's benchmark, you need a tank that can take 700 times the atmospheric pressure.'

The high cost aside, she reckons the public may not readily accept being in a vehicle with a tank holding hydrogen at over 4,500kg per square inch, even if such a tank is proven to be safe.

Her group, whose main laboratory is undergoing renovation, is working towards a solution for cars, and is in the process of tying up a research alliance with General Motors, the world's largest carmaker.

Working with lithium nitride, Dr Chen's team - funded by the Government's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) - has been able to surpass the US Department of Energy's 2005 target of 0.45kg of gas stored in a 10kg medium.

'Ours is so far the highest, at 1.14kg,' she claimed.

Her team is now working on lowering the temperature and pressure at which the gas can be released, as well as increasing the number of times the medium can be refuelled before it has to be replaced.

The tests hinge on the discovery of new synthesised materials which hydrogen can bond with.

'Two years ago, our working temperature was 250 deg C. Today, it's below 200 deg C. We need to get it to below 100 deg C,' she said.

The research team has filed six patents for its relatively new technology, and its work has been featured in leading science journals like Nature and Technology Research News.

Dr Chen literally stumbled upon how hydrogen can be bonded to solids six years ago, soon after joining NUS after graduating from Xiamen University with a doctorate.

She was working on nano materials when she found that lithium reacted with hydrogen at high temperatures.

In 2001, that accidental discovery was repeated and verified.

'We achieved a storage capacity almost twice that of the best existing solid-state hydrogen storage material,' she recounted with excitement. 'We submitted the results to Nature. To our delight, they published it in their November 2002 issue.'

Her pioneering work soon won her global recognition, and she has been invited to address the major carmakers as well as government agencies and universities in Japan.

She was also invited to visit California-based Sandia National Laboratories - a leading state defence technology provider - and worked there as a guest consultant in May and June this year.

Now the US Department of Energy wants her to join its Annual Review Meeting of Hydrogen Project.

Her team is currently the leader in this field of research, but soaring oil prices and a foreseeable energy crunch have prompted researchers elsewhere to join the race.

The American government, for instance, is spending US$1.7 billion (S$2.9 billion) over five years on research into hydrogen-based fuel cells.

'It's very competitive. We feel quite a lot of pressure,' Dr Chen confessed, even as she said she is almost sure her team can come up with a solution ready for real-life tests before her latest A*Star sponsorship period runs out in late 2006.

She believes that once hydrogen can be stored in a solid medium, interest in cars that run on the gas will increase, and reckons it will be only a matter of time before hydrogen replaces fossil fuels as the world's primary energy source.

'My hometown is where the Shenli Petroleum Administration is. It controls China's second largest oilfield. With each passing year, it gets harder and harder for them to get oil out from the ground,' she added.


SURPRISE

DR CHEN Ping, 36, literally stumbled upon how hydrogen can be bonded to solids six years ago, soon after joining NUS after graduating from Xiamen University with a doctorate.

She was working on nano materials when she found that lithium reacted with hydrogen at high temperatures.

In 2001, that accidental discovery was repeated and verified. 'We achieved a storage capacity almost twice that of the best existing solid-state hydrogen storage material,' she said.

 

Subscribe to The Straits Times print edition today. In it you get exclusive reports, analyses and news packages. Do it by email or fax
 
  Story Index
Get shorter domain names from mid-Sept
Low-cost PC to bridge digital divide
Geek Notes