Innovation in Material Science and Technology Cooperation with KIST

Gian-Luca Bona,

www-empa.ch

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Empa’s Research Focus Areas

Analytical MethodsMeasurement Techniques

Instruments & Tools

Computational Modelling

Material Synthesis

Assessment of Sustainability, Reliability & Safety

Health & Performance

Nanostructured Materials

Energy

Sustainable Built Environment

Natural Resources & Pollutants

20.38%

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Example: Ongoing Collaboration on H2 Storage

Dr. CHO Young WhanPrincipal Research ScientistMaterials Science and Technology Research Division Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)

History of Collaboration on Hydrogen Storage 2008  Ji Woo KIM (1. 2. 2008 - 31. 1. 2009) as PhD student at EMPA Div. Hydrogen & Energy. Investigation of the reaction mechanism of the destabilized LiBH4 system with Al additive, so called reactive composite hydrides. 2008 KOREAN- SWISS INTER-GOVERNMENTAL COOPERATION PROGRAM “Novel complex metal hydrides for hydrogen storage”, 2 years, between Young Whan Cho, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and Andreas Zuttel EMPA Div. Hydrogen & Energy. [4, 5, 6] 2012  Collaborative research agreement “Properties of Nanosized Hydrides” between Young Whan Cho, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and Andreas Zuttel EMPA Div. Hydrogen & Energy for 2 years. So far a total of 7 joint publications in this area

Next Step: Stability of adsorbed C-H species Cluster synthesis, DFT calculations, Hydrides

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RESULTS

Ref.: A. Remhof, Y. Yan, O. Friedrichs, J. W. Kim, Ph. Mauron, A. Borgschulte, D. Wallacher, A. Buchsteiner, A. Hoser, K. H. Oh, Y. W. Cho, A. Zuttel, , Journal of Physics: Conference Series 340 (2012) 012111Ref.: Friedrichs, O; Kim, JW; Remhof, A; Wallacher, D; Hoser, A; Cho, YW; Oh, KH; Zuttel, A, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 12:18 (2010), pp. 4600 - 4603.

Towards room temperature, direct, solvent free synthesis of tetraborohydrides, e.g. LiBH4Due to their high hydrogen content, tetraborohydrides are discussed as potential synthetic energy carriers. On the example of lithium borohydride LiBH4, we discuss current approaches of direct, solvent free synthesis based on gas solid reactions of the elements or binary hydrides and/or borides with gaseous H2 or B2H6. The direct synthesis from the elements requires high temperature and high pressure (700°C, 150bar D2). Using LiB or AlB2 as boron source reduces the required temperature by more than 300 K.

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Empa

KIST

Cooperation to enable innovation