Courtesy Department of Chemistry
Professor Sir John Meurig Thomas and colleagues have discovered a potential safe hydrogen storage method that could pave the way for widespread adoption of hydrogen-fuelled cars.
In a paper reported in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, the scientists showed that hydrocarbon wax rapidly releases large amounts of hydrogen when activated with catalysts and microwaves.
Study co-author Professor Peter Edwards (University of Oxford) said: 'This discovery of a safe, efficient hydrogen storage and production material can open the door to the large-scale application of fuel cells in vehicles.'
Sir John said the work could also be extended so that many of the liquid components of refined petroleum and inexpensive solid catalysts can pave the way to the generation of massive quantities of high-purity hydrogen for other commercial uses, including CO2-free energy production.
Sir John was Head of the Department of Physical Chemistry (as it then was) from 1978 to 1986. He has also been Director of the Royal Institution and Master of Peterhouse College. He continues to conduct research in the Electron Microscopy group at the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy in Cambridge.