Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht GmbH, Germany

The Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht GmbH (HZG), situated near the town of Geesthacht, Germany belongs to the German Hermann von Helmholtz Association (HGF). With its 15 research centres, 24.000 employees and an annual budget of approx 2.2 billion euros the Helmholtz Association is Germany's largest research institution. HGZ is situated at Geesthacht near Hamburg and has a branch in Teltow near Berlin with a total staff of approximately 750 employees, including about 480 scientists, engineers and technicians. The three main HZG research areas cover materials science, environmental research, and separation processes using membrane technologies. One of the core research topics at HZG is Materials for Hydrogen Technology, covering purification and conditioning of hydrogen, development of new membranes for fuel cells, and hydrogen storage. HZG has more than 9 years research experience in hydrogen storage in nanocrystalline light metal hydrides for mobile applications (25 publications, 3 patents, 6 patent applications pending) and was/is involved in international projects and co-operations in this field, including the EU IP's StorHy and NessHy, the EU-FP5 Networks FC-TEST-NET and EU-RTN "H-Sorption in Mg: Improved Hydrogen Sorption Kinetics in New Magnesium Composites for Clean Energy Storage and Transport". HZG also has a strong background in materials design based on thermodynamics. For instance, the system Mg-Ni-H was calculated and modelled in detail using the THERMOCALC and CALPHAD (calculation of phase diagrams) methods. HZG operates its own beamlines at the PETRA III and DORIS ring (HARWI II) at the German Electron Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg, as well as beam lines at the Research Reactor Munich II, both equipped for diffraction and scattering experiments to investigate structures in the range of Ångstroms up to microns.

Prototype tank for NaAlH4 based solid state hydrogen storage (capacity 8kg NaAlH4, ca. 400 g H2, developed and built in the NESSHY project at HZG)

Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Bormann (Co-ordinator of COSY), an internationally recognized expert in applications of thermodynamics to alloy design and to the design of nanomaterials, Director of the Institute of Materials Research at HZG, is the Co-ordinator of this Network. Professor Bormann studied Metal Physics at Göttingen University and received his Ph.D. in 1979. After a post-doctoral appointment, in 1981/82 he spent 15 months as a Visiting Scientist at Stanford University, USA. In 1982 he became an Assistant Professor (Hochschulassistent) at the University of Göttingen. 1988 he received his habilitation and the Venia Lengendi at Göttingen University, and was awarded a "Heisenberg-Fellowship". In 1989 he was appointed as head of the Department "Applied Metal Physics" at the Institute for Materials Research of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht and received professorship at the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg. In 1996 he became Head of the Institute for Materials Research at HZG. Additionally, he was appointed to chair the Department of Materials Science and Technology at the Technical University Hamburg-Harburg since 1997. Together he headed more than 40 scientists and technicians. Since April, 1st, 2009, Prof. Bormann is President of the University of Bayreuth, Germany. Prof. Bormann has more than 20 years of experience in the area of metastable and nanocrystalline phases and applications of thermodynamics and high energy milling. He started working on nanocrystalline metal hydrides for hydrogen storage in 1996. His publication list contains more than 150 scientific publications including 12 publications on nanocrystalline hydrides. He holds 8 patents including 5 on hydrogen storage. He is Member of the Advisory Board of the DGM (German Society of Materials) and vice president of the scientific commission of the German Science Council.

Miniature-Elektrolyser with drying unit (HZG) for loading of solid state hydrogen storage tanks (Foto Fraunhofer ISE, Freiburg, Germany)

Dr. Martin Dornheim is is an expert in the preparation of nanocrystalline materials. He obtained his PhD in 2002 at the University of Göttingen. From 2002 to 2003 he was leader of the group “Hydrogen in Metals and Nanoscale Materials” at the Institute or Physics of Materials at the University of Göttingen in place of Dr. A. Pundt. From 2003 to 2005 he was deputy leader of the group “Powder and Nanotechnology” at the Institute of Materials Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht. Since 2005 he is the head of the group “Nanotechnology”.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Klassen is an expert in hydrogen sorption and its catalysis. He obtained his Ph.D. in Engineering and Materials Science from the Technical University Hamburg-Harburg, was a Post-Docoratal Fellow in the group of Prof. R. Averback, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, leader of several projects in the field of high-energy milling at HZG and now is Head of the Institute of Materials Science at the Helmut-Schmidt-University Hamburg. He is laurate of the German Society for Materials Science Young Scientist Award 1997 and ISMANAM 1997 Young Scientist Gold Medal.

Dr. Klaus Pranzas is an expert in small-angle neutron scattering. He is involved in various research projects concerning structural investigations in the field of materials research. He has an expertise in small-angle scattering investigations using neutron and synchrotron radiation of nanostructures. His main focus is currently the structural characterization of nanocrystalline metal hydrides.

Experimental facilities: high energy ball mills, reactive milling, Sievert’s apparatus, DSC, TGA, X-ray Diffraction, Small-Angle Neutron Scattering (FRM II), access to synchrotron radiation facilities (DESY) through beam time application.

Learn more about hydrogen technology at HZG.

Selected Publications

NEW U. Bösenberg, J.W. Kim, D. Gosslar, N. Eigen, T.R. Jensen, J.M. Bellosta von Colbe, Y. Zhou, M. Dahms, D.H. Kim, R. Günther, Y.W. Cho, K.H. Oh, T. Klassen, R. Bormann, M. Dornheim, “Role of additives in LiBH₄–MgH₂ reactive hydride composites for sorption kinetics”, Acta Materialia, 58 (9) (2010), 3381-3389, DOI: doi:10.1016/j.actamat.2010.02.012

U. Bösenberg, U. Vainio, P. K. Pranzas, J. M. Bellosta von Colbe, G. Goerigk, E. Welter, M. Dornheim, A. Schreyer and R. Bormann, "On the chemical state and distribution of Zr- and V-based additives in reactive hydride composites, Nanotechnology, 20 (2009) 204003, DOI: 10.1088/0957-4484/20/20/204003

Barkhordarian, G.; Jensen, T. R.; Doppiu, S.; Bosenberg, U.; Borgschulte, A.; Gremaud, R.; Cerenius, Y.; Dornheim, M.; Klassen, T.; Bormann, R.; “Formation of Ca(BH₄)₂ from Hydrogenation of CaH₂+MgB₂ Composite”; J. Phys. Chem. C.; Vol. 112 No. 7 (2008) 2743-2749, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp076325k

M. Dornheim, N. Eigen, G. Barkhordarian, T. Klassen, R. Bormann, „Tailoring Hydrogen Storage Materials Towards Application”, In: Advanced Engineering Materials. Vol. 8 (5), (Wiley VCH, 2006) 377 - 385.

T. Klassen, Nanocrystalline light metal hydrides for hydrogen storage, in Nanostructure Control of materials, edited by R. Hannick and A. J. Hill, Woodhead Publisher Cambridge, UK, 2006.

P.-A. Huhn, M. Dornheim, T. Klassen, and R. Bormann, "Thermal Stability of Nanocrystalline MgH2 for Hydrogen Storage", Journal of Alloys and Compounds 404–406 (2005) 499–502

X. Z. Ma, E. Martinez-Franco, M. Dornheim, T. Klassen, and R. Bormann, "Catalyzed Na2LiAlH6 for hydrogen storage", Journal of Alloys and Compounds 404–406 (2005) 771–774.

G. Barkhordarian, T. Klassen, and R. Bormann, "Effect of Nb2O5 Content on Hydrogen Reaction Kinetics of Mg", J. Alloys and Compounds 364 1, 242 (2004)

G. Barkhordarian, T. Klassen, and R. Bormann, "Fast Hydrogen Sorption Kinetics of Nanocrystalline Mg using Nb2O5 as Catalyst", Scripta mater. 49, 213 (2003)

W. Oelerich, T. Klassen, and R. Bormann, "Comparison of the Catalytic Effects of V, V2O5, N, and VC on the Hydrogen Sorption of Nanocrystalline Mg", J. Alloys and Compounds 322, L5 (2001)

W. Oelerich, T. Klassen, and R. Bormann, "Hydrogen Sorption of Nanocrystalline Mg at Reduced Temperatures by Metal Oxide Catalysts", Advanced Engineering Materials 3, 487 (2001)

W. Oelerich, T. Klassen, and R. Bormann, "Metal Oxides as Catalysts for Improved Hydrogen Sorption in Nanocrystalline Mg-Based Materials", J. Alloys and Compounds 315, 237 (2001)

Contact:

Dr. Klaus Taube
Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht GmbH
Institute for Materials Research
Max-Planck-Str. 1
D-21502  Geesthacht
Germany

Phone + 49 (4152) 87 - 2541
Fax +49 (4152) 87 - 2636

http://hydrogen.hzg.de