Solid-State Hydrogen Storage for Marine, Drone and Special Vehicles

ZnoNova Materials

The reason anyone looks at solid-state storage for a vessel or an airframe is not energy density. On mass alone, compressed hydrogen usually wins. The reason is pressure — or rather the absence of it. A metal-hydride bed holds hydrogen chemically at near-ambient pressure, which changes the safety case, the certification conversation and where you are allowed to put the tank.

The honest trade

What you gain	Storage at near-ambient pressure instead of 350–700 bar. No high-pressure vessel, no burst scenario, far more freedom in where the storage sits inside a hull or fuselage. In a fire, a hydride bed does not release its inventory the way a ruptured composite cylinder does.
What you pay	Mass, and heat. The material stores 6.89 wt%; the system stores considerably less once you count containment and heat-exchange. And you must supply desorption heat at around 375 °C — which for a fuel-cell vessel means a thermal integration problem, because PEM fuel-cell waste heat is nowhere near that temperature.

We would rather you hear that second row from us than discover it three months into a programme.

Where it does and does not fit

Vessels — plausibleMass matters less at sea, hull volume is available, and an engine or burner can supply desorption heat.

Special / port vehicles — plausibleDuty cycles are predictable and refuelling is depot-based.

Stationary backup on a moving platform — plausibleWhere safety dominates and mass does not.

Small electric UAVs — difficultBe honest with yourself about the 375 °C requirement on an airframe with no high-grade heat source.

What the catalyst changes

The published work is about kinetics, and kinetics is what decides whether refuelling takes minutes or hours: 446 s absorption and 735 s desorption at 375 °C, with desorption activation energy cut from 132.7 to 98.5 kJ/mol. Full citations and DOIs are on the research page.

What we will not do

We will not quote material capacity as if it were system capacity. Ask any supplier for the system figure including vessel and heat exchanger, and watch what happens.
We will not tell you a UAV application is straightforward. If your platform has no high-grade heat, say so early and we will tell you honestly whether this is the wrong technology for you.
We supply the catalyst. Vessel design, alloy processing and certification are not ours.

Questions buyers ask

Is solid-state hydrogen storage safer than compressed?

On the pressure hazard, materially yes — there is no stored mechanical energy and no burst scenario, and the hydrogen is chemically bound rather than contained. That is the main reason the approach is looked at for enclosed spaces such as hulls. It is not a blanket safety claim, and certification is still your programme's work.

What is the real system-level energy density?

It depends on your vessel, heat exchanger and thermal mass, so we do not publish a number we cannot stand behind. The material figure is 6.89 wt%. Anyone quoting you a system figure without knowing your design is guessing.

Can PEM fuel-cell waste heat drive desorption?

Not on its own — PEM stacks run far below the temperature needed. This is the central integration problem for mobile applications and it should be solved on paper before anyone buys material.

Do you supply tanks?

No. We supply the catalyst that goes into the magnesium system.

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