Innovation in Material Science and Technology
Cooperation with KIST
Gian-Luca Bona,
www-empa.ch
Empa’s Research Focus Areas
Nanostructured
Materials
Health &
Performance
Analytical Methods
Measurement Techniques
Instruments & Tools
20.38%
Assessment of Sustainability,
Reliability & Safety
Computational
Modelling
Material
Synthesis
Natural Resources
& Pollutants
Energy
Sustainable Built
Environment
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Example: Ongoing Collaboration on H2 Storage
Dr. CHO Young Whan
Principal Research Scientist
Materials 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 Züttel
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 Züttel 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
Towards room temperature, direct, solvent free synthesis of
tetraborohydrides, e.g. LiBH4
Due 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.
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. Züttel, , Journal of Physics: Conference Series 340 (2012) 012111
Ref.: Friedrichs, O; Kim, JW; Remhof, A; Wallacher, D; Hoser, A; Cho, YW; Oh, KH; Zuttel, A, Physical
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Chemistry Chemical Physics 12:18 (2010), pp. 4600 - 4603.
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