Grant: Strategic Projects Supplemental Competition

The widespread implementation of hydrogen or hydrogen/natural gas mixtures in the transportation sector has potential for substantial reduction of harmful NOx pollutants and carbon dioxide emissions. Our partner, Westport Innovations Inc., is a Vancouver-based company that is a world leader in engine design for alternative fuels. One longstanding challenge to advancing their technology in combustion engines and, more generally, to using hydrogen for fuel cells or engines, relates to the storage and delivery of hydrogen and methane since they are both gases at ambient conditions. We propose to develop new, innovative materials for sorption of hydrogen and methane that may enable tanks to store the gases at lower pressures, enhancing safety and reducing the weight of the vessel needed to contain the gas. These porous materials will be prepared by a supramolecular assembly route whereby well-designed molecular precursors are assembled in a "bottom-up" approach into 3-D materials. Both crystalline and amorphous materials will be prepared. These novel materials are anticipated to have very high adsorption capacities that may make them suitable for state-of-the-art alternative fuel storage applications. Adsorption properties and kinetics will be investigated using a tapered-element oscillating microbalance (TEOM) connected to a quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS). This project will create new knowledge in the field of metal-organic frameworks and new advances in gas storage applications. This research will train students in areas of materials science and chemical engineering relevant to hydrogen fuel cells.