Microporous material could store gas as fuel in cars

A team from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Surrey University alongside collaborators at Northwestern University in the US recently validated their new metal-organic framework (MOF) configuration.

‘The breakthrough heralds a whole new dimension to the potential for using gas to power vehicles,’ said study lead Dr Ozgur Yazaydin of Surrey.

In recent years, there has been considerable interest in MOFs, which are microporous crystalline materials where metal atoms are connected by organic linker molecules. This results in a network of molecular cages with vast internal surface areas ideal for storing gases.

Cars fuelled by these gases, either through conventional combustion engines or fuel cells, must however be able to carry enough gas to achieve a range that is viable and competitive with gasoline or electric vehicles.

Based on the way the gas is stored using MOFs, scientists had previously assumed there was theoretical finite limit to capacity, making the idea impractical.