Chennai: In an advance that could considerably expand the range of cheap, energy-efficient, and high-performance materials and methods that can be used in the field of hydrogen energy, a group of researchers found a way to hydrogenate thin metallic glass layers at room temperature.
The team developed an amorphous nanostructure (FeNi-based metallic glass) that can be used in the field of hydrogen energy to accumulate and store hydrogen, in particular, as a replacement for Li-ion batteries in small-sized systems.
Metallic glass has the potential to replace palladium, an expensive element that is currently used in hydrogen systems. The lack of economically feasible energy storage systems is the main hindrance preventing hydrogen energy from scaling up to the industrial level. With the new development, the team came one step closer to solving this problem.
Metallic glass has enormous potential in the energy industry thanks to its amorphous structure, lack of certain defects that are typical for polycrystalline metals (such as grain boundaries), and high resistance to oxidation and corrosion.