J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133, 19326–19329 (2011)

Fuel-cell cars — which run on hydrogen and emit only water from their tailpipes — offer a compelling way to reduce transport emissions. However, manufacturers have struggled to find ways of safely storing enough hydrogen in a car for long journeys.

Researchers have now taken a step towards an alternative: storing the hydrogen as a liquid. University of Oregon chemist Shih-Yuan Liu and colleagues report the creation of a new material: BN-methylcyclopentane, a five-membered cyclic amine borane that is a stable liquid at room temperature and pressure. When a cheap iron chloride catalyst is added, three of these rings chemically join together, releasing hydrogen in the process.

Liu's work was funded by a US Department of Energy project that is aiming to develop a viable liquid or solid storage mechanism for hydrogen fuel by 2017. The team is now working to make recycling of their starting material cheaper and more energy efficient.