Ragnar Holm lecture: A dive into the wonders of solid-state hydrogen storage systems with in situ neutron scattering methods

Hydrogen storage plays a critical role in the wide-scale application of the sustainable and emission-free hydrogen-based economy. Solid-state hydrogen storage systems offer a safer and potentially higher-efficiency alternative to contemporary technical storage methods, i.e. compressed and liquefied. Nevertheless, a multitude of hurdles has to be overcome for the large-scale commercialisation of solid-state hydrogen storage systems. Understanding the textural, crystallographical, and compositional properties of the component materials making up the solid-state hydrogen storage system is vital for overcoming these applicational barriers. For this in situ neutron scattering methods are of high use as they enable directly probing hydrogen and the whole hydrogen storage system while equivalent conditions to those during use cycles are applied. The hydrogen self-diffusion in well-defined adsorption systems is presented with the determination of two time-scale jump-diffusion of adsorbed hydrogen. In addition, the influence of a carbonaceous mesoporous scaffold material on the confinement of a complex metal hydride is presented based on neutron powder diffraction. The presented scientific work was possible thanks to the Ragnar Holm scholarship received by the presenter and has been done in the framework of the scholarship.