Helping hydrogen move back home
Millions of dollars are being spent on developing electric vehicles. Electric vehicles, powered by hydrogen fuel cells, provide the demanded driving range and low environmental impact. However, hydrogen fuel cell powered electric vehicles suffer from a refueling problem. The challenge is to recharge the hydrogen safely, quickly and affordably. One way to do this is to store the hydrogen in safe materials that release the hydrogen on demand via simple chemical reactions. The next question is how to put the hydrogen back into the "spent fuel." Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory discovered cobalt and nickel complexes that activate hydrogen enabling the spent fuel to be recycled. These metals are not precious metals, which have availability and cost issues. The cobalt and nickel complexes could facilitate efficient and affordable refueling.