Hydrogen is a clean and environmentally-friendly energy carrier. A major obstacle for the development of hydrogen powered vehicles is the lack of safe light weight and energy efficient means for on-board hydrogen storage. Ammonia borane (AB) is a promising hydrogen storage material for vehicles powered by fuel cells. A fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity. Hydrogen is released from AB via thermal decomposition; however this process produces excessive heat and unfavorable byproducts. Purdue University researchers have developed a method to manage excessive heat from AB thermal decomposition by using an additive. When experimentally tested the additive produced a high hydrogen yield rapid reaction speeds and little byproduct formation. The fast reaction speeds work to utilize waste heat from the fuel cell and manage heat more effectively.
1) Effective heat management 2) High hydrogen yield 3) Rapid reaction speed 4) Little byproduct formation