A UK invention that releases trapped hydrogen at the flick of a switch promises to ‘bridge the gap’ between sluggish hydrogen storage systems and immediate need, and promises to help make hydrogen power a viable clean technology for the future.

Whilst hydrogen is thought to be an ideal fuel for vehicles, producing only water on combustion, its widespread use has been limited by the lack of a safe, efficient system for onboard storage.

Current technologies can store hydrogen inside a ‘lattice’ of metal hydride but these only work at high temperatures and so are not useful until the engine can maintain the lattice temperature.

Now scientists at the University of Bath have invented a material which stores and releases hydrogen at room temperature, at the flick of a switch, and promises to help make hydrogen power a viable clean technology for the future.

Although a complete tank made from the new material would be too heavy for a car, a smaller tank will provide enough instantaneous hydrogen to get the engine running immediately and until the main tank is up to running temperature.

Dr Andrew Weller from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Bath said: “The problem of how to store hydrogen has been a major bottleneck in the development of the hydrogen power technology.”

“Our new material works at room temperature and at atmospheric pressure at the flick of a switch. Because it is made from a heavy metal (Rhodium), its weight to fuel ratio is low, 0.1 per cent, but it could certainly fill the time lag between a driver putting their foot on the accelerator and a metal hydride fuel tank getting up to temperature.”

The discovery was made accidentally whilst investigating the effect that hydrogen has on metals.

The new material absorbs the hydrogen into its structure and literally bristles with molecules of the gas. At the flick of a switch it rejects the hydrogen, allowing us to turn the supply of the gas on and off as we wish.

Dr Weller said: “The fact that we discovered the material by chance is a fantastic advertisement for the benefits of curiosity driven research.”

“In principle it should be possible to produce ready amounts of hydrogen using sea water and solar cells, giving the next generation of vehicles an inexhaustible supply of environmentally-friendly fuel.”

“In fact other research in Bath’s Department of Chemistry is at the forefront of the solar cell research, new battery technologies and new fuel cell technologies which could help unlock what many people are calling the hydrogen economy.”