[en] Hydrogen sensors are of paramount importance for the safety of hydrogen fuel cell technology as result of the high pressure necessary in fuel tanks and its low explosion limit. I present a novel sensor principle based on thermal conduction that is very sensitive to hydrogen, highly specific and can operate on low temperatures. As opposed to other thermal sensors it can be operated with low cost and low power driving electronics. On top of this, as sensor element a modified standard of-the shelf MEMS thermopile IR-sensor can be used. The sensor principle presented is thus suited for the future mass markets of hydrogen fuel cell technology.S

[en] In this work, the optimal conditions for assembling a fuel cell containing membranes of different parameters and from different manufacturers were studied. Influence of membrane thickness, glass transition temperature and equivalent mass of ionomer used for membrane production was studied. Individual fuel cells were characterized in terms of their total ohmic resistance and maximum achieved power. (authors)

[en] The hydrogen hype of the last decade has passed and it is now seemingly substituted by the electric vehicle hype. A technological hype can have both positive as well as negative consequences. On the one hand it attracts sponsors for technology development but on the other hand the high expectations might result in disappointment and subsequent withdrawal of the sponsors. In this paper I ask the question to what extent the car industry has created the hype and how it has done so. The industry's role is studied through their prototyping activities and accompanying statements on market entry. I conclude that the car industry has indeed inflated the hype, especially through its public statements on market release after the turn of the millennium. Furthermore, it can be concluded that the industry has shown a double repertoire of both highly optimistic and more modest statements. It is possible that statements are used deliberately to serve the industry's interests whenever needed. Without neglecting the positive influence of technological hype on public policy and private funding for R and D efforts, more modest promises could serve the development of sustainable mobility better. For policy makers the challenge is to remain open to different options instead of following hypes and disappointments as they come and go. (author)

[en] This paper addresses a partial but powerful view of the hydrogen economy known as 'technology characterisation' (TC). TC offers particular representations of the supply of hydrogen technologies through 'measuring' the 'state of the art'. This view is seen as an important means of generating political and policy support for technological developments through outlining technical 'possibilities' and 'options' in relation to 'costs'. Through drawing on 10 TC documents a series of practices and issues are outlined. These documents are subjected to critical interrogation as a means of saying not how TC should be applied but in outlining how it often is applied. Our analysis of these documents claims that TC conceives of technological change through a process of narrowly framing understanding of what 'relevant' costs and technological possibilities are. We claim, through this critique, that this dominant way of narrowly characterising technological change in terms of the supply of technology would benefit from an appreciation of alternative 'ways of seeing' the development of hydrogen technologies, particularly in relation to 'contexts' of their appropriation, consumption and development. We suggest that this can be done through the development of two alternative ways of seeing: a Large Technical Systems approach which addresses wider systemic considerations, and localised 'niche' developments in nurtured spaces of reflexive social learning. Through subjecting the practices of a dominant way of seeing technological development-TC-to critique this opens up the possibilities for TC practitioners to reflect on the strengths and shortcomings of their own practices. This, in addition to outlining ways of seeing the appropriation and innovation of hydrogen technologies in specific contexts, through an LTS and niche approach, offers the potential for a dialogue between the supply and the contextualised appropriation of hydrogen technologies and thus for engaging disconnected areas of research. It also provides a basis for research which opens up the possibilities for sensitising policy interventions to contexts of appropriation and use in addition to Technological Characterisations of supply

[en] Hydrogen and fuel cells can greatly contribute to a more sustainable less carbon-dependent global energy system. An effective and safe method for storage of hydrogen in solid materials is one of the greatest technologically challenging barriers of widespread introduction of hydrogen in global energy systems. However, aspects related to the development of effective materials for hydrogen storage and fuel cells are facing considerable technological challenges. To reach these goals, research efforts using a combination of advanced modeling, synthesis methods and characterization tools are required. Nuclear methods can play an effective role in the development and characterization of materials for hydrogen storage. Therefore, the IAEA initiated a coordinated research project to promote the application of nuclear techniques for investigation and characterization of new/improved materials relevant to hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. This paper gives an overview of the IAEA activities in this subject. (author)

[en] This document gathers a series of short articles on hydrogen's assets for energy transition. Hydrogen as a medium for energy storage and as a link between electric systems and gas, has to be considered as a whole for a better energy transition. Green hydrogen, that is produced through water electrolysis has a multi-role to play: carbon-free hydrogen for any industry, storage energy for renewable energies and clean transport of men and goods. In this document various project involving hydrogen are reviewed. The GRHYD project whose aim is to demonstrate the advantage of a new gas: the Hythane composed of hydrogen and natural gas for household uses. The COSTHY project whose aim is to optimize an hydrogen system as a whole including production, storage, dispatching and use. Several projects are working on various types of electrolytic systems for fuel cells. High temperature water electrolysis (around 800 Celsius degrees) could reach yields of 95% while for instance the PEM (proton exchange membrane)-based fuel cell that operates below 100 C. degrees, has a 70% yield for the conversion of electricity into hydrogen. The SYLFEN start-up has developed an energy storage system that reinforces the energy autonomy of the building by providing power and heat and storing the extra energy supplied by solar panels under the form of hydrogen. SYLFEN system is based on the SOEC (solid oxide electrolysis) technology. On the small island of Semakau, off Singapore, a multi-energy micro-grid has been developed whose hydrogen is an important component, it allows the storage of energy and is used as fuel for hydrogen cars and for producing back electricity for households. The SPHYNX project proposes to develop an energy system based on hydrogen for 2 areas south and north of Paris. The aim is to prove the technical and economic feasibility of hydrogen in local power grids. Hydrogen is a clean fuel whose energy density is about 33 kWh/kg, 3 times more than that of gasoline but its volume density is so weak that hydrogen requires to transport huge volumes compared to oil. The solution of transporting liquid hydrogen is today's solution, its challenge is to maintain a temperature of -253 Celsius degrees during all the transport. The Japanese group Kawasaki is building the first liquid hydrogen tanker whose maiden voyage is expected in 2020. Natural hydrogen is coming directly from the soil in different parts of the world, particularly in Brazil and Africa. In Mali a natural hydrogen field is exploited by the Petroma company

[en] The Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Conference and Trade Show was held in Vancouver, British Columbia on June 8-11, 2003. The message of the Conference and Trade Show was to help in the movement Towards a Greener World. Within that broad objective framework, five distinct themes were identified that addressed a comprehensive array of issues through which all delegates were able to contribute, debate and exchange ideas to accelerate the engineering and economics of fuel cells and hydrogen technologies. The five themes within the Conference were: Hydrogen Infrastructure; Environment, Economics and Education; Materials and Innovative Technologies; Hydrogen Storage Systems and Applications; and Fuel Cells

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[en] Effectively addressing concerns about air pollution (especially health impacts of small-particle air pollution), climate change, and oil supply insecurity will probably require radical changes in automotive engine/fuel technologies in directions that offer both the potential for achieving near-zero emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases and a diversification of the transport fuel system away from its present exclusive dependence on petroleum. The basis for comparing alternative automotive engine/fuel options in evolving toward these goals in the present analysis is the 'societal lifecycle cost' of transportation, including the vehicle first cost (assuming large-scale mass production), fuel costs (assuming a fully developed fuel infrastructure), externality costs for oil supply security, and damage costs for emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases calculated over the full fuel cycle. Several engine/fuel options are considered--including current gasoline internal combustion engines and a variety of advanced lightweight vehicles: internal combustion engine vehicles fueled with gasoline or hydrogen; internal combustion engine/hybrid electric vehicles fueled with gasoline, compressed natural gas, Diesel, Fischer-Tropsch liquids or hydrogen; and fuel cell vehicles fueled with gasoline, methanol or hydrogen (from natural gas, coal or wind power). To account for large uncertainties inherent in the analysis (for example in environmental damage costs, in oil supply security costs and in projected mass-produced costs of future vehicles), lifecycle costs are estimated for a range of possible future conditions. Under base-case conditions, several advanced options have roughly comparable lifecycle costs that are lower than for today's conventional gasoline internal combustion engine cars, when environmental and oil supply insecurity externalities are counted--including advanced gasoline internal combustion engine cars, internal combustion engine/hybrid electric cars fueled with gasoline, Diesel, Fischer-Tropsch liquids or compressed natural gas, and hydrogen fuel cell cars. The hydrogen fuel cell car stands out as having the lowest externality costs of any option and, when mass produced and with high valuations of externalities, the least projected lifecycle cost. Particular attention is given to strategies that would enhance the prospects that the hydrogen fuel cell car would eventually become the Car of the Future, while pursuing innovations relating to options based on internal combustion engines that would both assist a transition to hydrogen fuel cell cars and provide significant reductions of externality costs in the near term