Carriers, Storage, & Transformation

Hydrogen & Fuel Cells

The Hydrogen Fuel Alternative

G.W. Crabtree^a1 and M.S. Dresselhaus^a2

^a1 Argonne National Laboratory, USA

^a2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Abstract

The cleanliness of hydrogen and the efficiency of fuel cells taken together offer an appealing alternative to fossil fuels. Implementing hydrogen-powered fuel cells on a significant scale, however, requires major advances in hydrogen production, storage, and use. Splitting water renewably offers the most plentiful and climate-friendly source of hydrogen and can be achieved through electrolytic, photochemical, or biological means. Whereas presently available hydride compounds cannot easily satisfy the competing requirements for on-board storage of hydrogen for transportation, nanoscience offers promising new approaches to this challenge. Fuel cells offer potentially efficient production of electricity for transportation and grid distribution, if cost and performance challenges of components can be overcome. Hydrogen offers a variety of routes for achieving a transition to a mix of renewable fuels.

George W. Crabtree, organizing committee member for this issue of MRS Bulletin, can be reached at Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Ave, Argonne, IL 60439, USA; tel. 630–252–5509, fax 630–252–8042, and e-mail crabtree@anl.gov.

Crabtree is a senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory. He received his BS degree from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, in science engineering; his MS degree from University of Washington, Seattle, in physics; and his PhD degree from University of Illinois at Chicago in solid state physics. At Argonne, Crabtree has worked on the electronic behavior of transition metal, organic, heavy fermion, and high-temperature superconducting compounds, and on materials for energy conversion.

Mildred S. Dresselhaus can be reached at Rm. 13–3005, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139–4307, USA; tel. 617–253–6864, fax 617–253–6827, and e-mail millie@mgm.mit.edu.

Dresselhaus is an institute professor of electrical engineering and physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She received her BS degree at Hunter College, her MA degree at Radcliffe College, and her PhD degree at the University of Chicago. At MIT, Dresselhaus has worked broadly in solid-state physics, carbon science and its nanostructures, and low-dimensional thermoelectricity. She is the recipient of the National Medal of Science and 24 honorary degrees worldwide, and served as the director of the Offce of Science at the Department of Energy in 2000–2001.