GOFs show hydrogen storage promise

Their research suggests stacks of graphene layers could potentially store hydrogen safely for use in fuel cells and other applications.

Graphene does not store hydrogen well in its original form, according to a team of scientists studying it at the NIST Center for Neutron Research. But if oxidised graphene sheets are stacked atop one another, connected by molecules that both link the layers to one another and maintain space between them, the resulting graphene-oxide framework (GOF) can accumulate hydrogen in greater quantities.

Inspired to create GOFs by the metal-organic frameworks that are also under scrutiny for hydrogen storage, the team is just beginning to uncover the new structures’ properties.

NIST theorist Taner Yildirim said: ’No one else has ever made GOFs, to the best of our knowledge. What we have found so far, though, indicates GOFs can hold at least a hundred times more hydrogen molecules than ordinary graphene oxide does. The easy synthesis, low cost and non-toxicity of graphene make this material a promising candidate for gas storage applications.’