Researchers from California have achieved a new record for absorbing hydrogen using nanoporous polymers. Frantisek Svec of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Jean Frėchet of the University of California, Berkeley revealed the feat at the International Congress of Nanotechnology held Oct. 30-Nov. 2 in San Francisco. Svec and Frėchet created the nanoporous polymers by heating and chemically treating styrene, an abundant hydrocarbon used to manufacture some plastics. The resulting material has an abundance of pores, each less than 2 nanometers in diameter. Hydrogen atoms naturally stick to the polymer, when cooled to around 77 Kelvin (-196 C), by forming surface bonds. This allows them to pack tightly inside the material’s pores. The material then releases the hydrogen when the temperature is raised or the pressure is reduced. The research team found that at roughly 40 times atmospheric pressure, the nanoporous polymers contained 3.8 percent hydrogen. And, at atmospheric pressure, they contained 1.5 percent hydrogen. While this falls short of the 6 percent target established by the U.S. Department of Energy, it is the best achieved so far for such a material, and the team is working on improving the technique. [7-Nov-2006, NewScientist.com news service]