This feature will make it possible to store hydrogen for use in storing hydrogen for energy production needs
These days, when governments and public bodies are frantically searching for new and cleaner ways to produce energy, some are considering returning to hydrogen gas. Hydrogen can be used as a clean energy source, which is abundant on Earth, but it is difficult to store it in large quantities.
Scientists from Rice University recently discovered to their surprise that carbon nanospheres - Buckyballs - are so strong that they are able to store hydrogen atoms in them at the density and compression that we can find in the center of Jupiter.
"Our calculations show that some of the nanospheres are able to contain such large volumes of hydrogen that they can almost be considered metals," said Boris Jacobson, principal investigator and professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Rice University.
The Department of Energy in the United States has dedicated more than a billion dollars to developing technologies for hydrogen-powered vehicles. These technologies include efficient ways to store hydrogen for use in vehicles. Hydrogen is the lightest element in the world, and it is very difficult to store it in large quantities, but in order for the hydrogen cars to be able to compete with the gasoline cars, they need a compact and efficient way to hold an equivalent amount of fuel. It is currently estimated that a car powered by hydrogen will require a storage system that will require compression of the hydrogen to a density greater than that of pure liquid hydrogen.
Jacobson says scientists have debated for years the merits of storing hydrogen inside tiny molecular containers such as carbon nanospheres. Some also conducted experiments that proved that small amounts of hydrogen can be stored inside carbon nanospheres. The new study, conducted in Jacobson's lab by postdoctoral researchers Olga Popisheva and Amir Parajian, provides the first method to accurately calculate the amount of hydrogen a carbon nanosphere can hold before it breaks.
Carbon nanospheres were first discovered 20 years ago and are part of a family of molecules made of carbon atoms, called fullerenes. Similar to the Banai family, the fullerine family also has many branches with different and different uses. Among other things, it includes carbon nanotubes, which are the strongest material known to man. The most famous nanosphere, consisting of only 60 carbon atoms, is the proud son of the fullerene family, but we must not forget its cousins - larger nanospheres made of 2000 carbon atoms or more.
"The bonds between the carbon atoms are among the strongest chemical bonds in nature," Jacobson said. "It is these connections that make the diamond one of the hardest materials. Our research showed that enormous internal pressure is needed to distort and break the carbon-carbon bonds in polyenes."
Jacobson's research team used a computer model to track the strength of each of the atomic bonds in the nanosphere, and created a simulation that showed how the bonds cope with increasing amounts of hydrogen atoms crammed inside the nanosphere. Jacobson said the model can be particularly useful because it can be adjusted to any size of nanosphere and any amount of hydrogen atoms. The model will be able to tell the scientists when and how the carbon nanospheres will explode and release their cargo.
Jacobson said that if a way is developed to create carbon nanospheres filled with hydrogen atoms, it may be possible to store them as a powder. "They will probably assemble into molecular crystals or form a thin powder," he said, "We may use them in their complete form, or pierce them under certain conditions that will allow us to utilize the pure hydrogen that will be released from them for use in fuel cells or other types of engines."
12 תגובות
It is possible to burn the hydrogen even inside the pellet and not necessarily before smashing the pellet
Yogev,
The strength of the sphere derives from the connections between its atoms, which result in the stabilization of its special shape. If we open even a knot or two (with a very small investment of energy), I believe that the enormous pressure inside the sphere will cause the hydrogen atoms to burst out of it quickly (like air deflating from a balloon through one open point).
I would be happy to understand how hydrogen atoms can be compressed into the sphere when it is not yet a sphere (because a part of it must be left open to insert the hydrogen atoms into it). But when it's open, it has no structural stability, so they can't really be compressed under high pressure.
In short, a problem.
*I meant "no" will be so profitable..
and after that knowing how to open the ball (or a certain number of balls) at what speed and with what investment of energy,
Maybe it will be so rewarding, what if we need so much energy to open these connections (after all, they are among the strongest) there is still a lot to explore before we can be happy.
By the way, I am very much in favor of the idea (in case it seems otherwise).
Ami,
Definitely right. Another vision for the time.
In my opinion, the most difficult issue is the creation of the nanospheres with the hydrogen compressed inside them.
We must remember that all the content of this article as well as the research - are only ideas and computer simulations. Who knows how the material will react in reality? Who knows if it is possible and/or worthwhile to store hydrogen in nanospheres? And if we store them in a closed place so well - will we know how to release the hydrogen easily? Another vision for the time.
In my dream I see a column on which nanospheres are glued and in which an amount of hydrogen is compressed under the pressure in the core of Jupiter. There is no danger of anything exploding because there is no way to release the hydrogen. When the car starts, biological gas is released that contains a biotechnologically produced enzyme that knows how to sit on a nanosphere and open one carbon bond in it. Gas is released and fills the cell that serves as a fuel cell for the car. At a certain gas pressure, the enzyme temporarily stops working. The released gas must be burned. When all the balls run out of gas, a column with the enzyme-nanoball complex must be replaced and at the factory it will be recharged in the right pressure chamber.
The distilled water created in the fire cools the car components that need cooling as well as is used to wash the windows.
: )
From the basic problems of humans:
the feature to store, and in this case to compress; And it doesn't matter if it is so necessary (in the case of storage), or to compress, when it is a deadly weapon; I wonder if we could get an answer from all those who lived, and are no longer alive; If they were to add another ten, twenty years of enjoyable life to them, if they were willing to give up something equivalent in percentages, which they accumulated while they were alive.
As for lethal weapons, that's another story.
Yehuda,
I hope and fear that when they invent the technology that will make it possible to compress hydrogen atoms at such a density into nanospheres (which is much more difficult than it seems at first thought), there will already be weapons of war much more terrifying than simple explosives.
Yehuda Sabdarmish,
That was said
"If I knew where the invention of the atom would lead, I would become a carpenter" Albert Einstein.
I fear that in the end they will decide that it can be used as an excellent explosive.
Sabdarmish Yehuda
Just fill in power powder and cut
This can be a very distressing phenomenon, and not necessarily due to its application. Calculations made years ago showed that it is possible that hydrogen is a conductor at room temperature when it is subjected to extremely high pressures (millions of atmospheres). If there is indeed a way to compress hydrogen into the fluorones, it may be possible to study interesting properties of the material at high pressures above anything that can be produced under laboratory conditions.