Newly developed porous hollow glass microspheres can be filled with absorbents to store gas and other materials. On a macro scale, these strong, reusable microspheres can be made to behave like a liquid. Applications for hydrogen storage, gas transport, gas purification and separation, sensor technologies, global-warming applications, and drug delivery systems are underway. Coatings, plates and fibers with similar properties can also be fabricated.
What looks like a fertilized egg, flows like water, gets stuffed with catalysts and exotic nanostructures and may have the potential of making the current retail gasoline infrastructure compatible with hydrogen-based vehicles of the future — not to mention also contributing to arenas such as nuclear proliferation and global warming?
This unique material, dubbed porous wall hollow glass microspheres, consists of porous hollow glass microballoons that are smaller than the diameter of a human hair. The key characteristic of these 2-100 micron spheres is an interconnected porosity in their thin outer walls that can be produced and varied on a scale of 100 to 3,000 Angstroms.
We have been able to use these open channels to fill the microballons with gas absorbents and other materials. Hydrogen or other reactive gases can then enter the microspheres through the pores, creating a relatively safe, contained, solid-state storage system.
Photographs of these hollow glass microspheres absorbent composites also reveal that the wall porosity generates entirely new nano-structures.
Another feature of the microballoons is that their mechanical properties can be altered so they can be made to flow like a liquid. This suggests that an existing infrastructure that currently transports, stores and distributes liquids such as the existing gasoline distribution and retail network can be used. This property and their relative strength also make the porous wall hollow glass microspheres suitable for reuse and recycling.
This article comes from sciencedaily edit released
