PNNL

Abstract

Many materials with high volumetric and/or gravimetric hydrogen densities have been studied to over the last few years especially those constituting lighter elements. Our group and others have been interested in the chemical hydrogen storage materials that use the elements nitrogen and boron to chemically bind hydrogen. These Chemical Hydrogen Storage materials hydrogen is ‘discharged’ by a chemical reaction and the hydrogen is ‘recharged’ by a chemical processing pathway. This makes them unique from metal hydride materials or carbon sorbant materials where the hydrogen release and uptake is control by temperature and pressure. One compound in particular, Ammonia Borane (AB = NH3BH3) has received significant interest given its stability and commercial availability. We describe various approaches reported in recent literature to release hydrogen from ammonia borane. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is operated by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy.