Stable Alloy Of Palladium Hydride With High Hydrogen Content

Summary

Researchers led by Yu Huang from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA have developed a cheap and simple way to create palladium hydride with high hydrogen content.

Background

Palladium hydride has been investigated for hydrogen storage, cold fusion, catalytic properties, and superconductivity. The hydrogen storage capacity is often used to power hydrogen fuel cells. The creation of high hydrogen content palladium hydride requires high temperatures and pressures, but have not been able to hydrogen/palladium (H/Pd) ratios greater than 0.6 nor have they been created with surface modifications. The ability to find a process in which you can control the H/Pd ratio, and therefore its properties, has not been done either.

Innovation

Researchers led by Yu Huang from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA have developed a cheap and simple way to create palladium hydride with high hydrogen content. Current processes for creating palladium hydride requires a lot of heat and pressure, but they cannot achieve a H/Pd ratio of greater than 0.6. Their research has led to a simple process of creating palladium hydride that only requires heat without the need for high pressures. Moreover, their process can create palladium hydride using a variety of different nanostructures along with allowing different surface modifications. This new process can have a H/Pd ratio of up to 1, which has not been done before. Additionally, this process allows the user to control the H/Pd from 0.43 to 1. This controllability allows the user to tailor their palladium hydride to have certain properties for technological applications.

Applications

• Palladium hydride formation

Advantages

• Simple 
• Easily scalable 
• Customizable 
• Less energy 
• Cheaper

Patent Status

Additional Patent Pending