Oregon State University researchers have created BVR-19, a metal-organic material that can store large amounts of hydrogen in a small, lightweight solid.The material can hold up to 30 percent of its weight as hydrogen. It is made from nickel, pyrazolate and zinc, and its structure was designed by a computer model at the University of California, Berkeley.Hydrogen is promising for clean transport, but storing it is hard. It leaks easily and current tanks hold a fraction of the energy of the same weight of gasoline.BVR-19 was developed with industry partners and the US Department of Energy’s Hydrogen Materials Advanced Research Consortium.

The team is now testing how it handles repeated filling and emptying.Tests were run with industry gases to speed up data collection. If it proves durable, the material could make hydrogen cars and trucks far more practical. The material was created with industry partners and the US Department of Energy consortium.

Repeated-fill durability tests are still underway.