Photo-induced hydrogen outgassing of glass

Storage of high-pressure hydrogen in hollow glass microspheres has been revisited with emphasis on improving the hydrogen release rates, a detriment to further development of this long-proposed, safe and efficient hydrogen storage technology. A possible solution to the poor hydrogen release rates has been realized with the discovery of photo-induced outgassing, in which a high-intensity infrared light is used to elicit hydrogen release in selectively doped glasses. This process results in much faster response times for the release of hydrogen in glasses than can be obtained by normal heating and may provide a path to superior performance for hydrogen storage in glass microspheres. The current study compares the outgassing of hydrogen-saturated glasses by use of radiation from a high-intensity lamp with the results obtained by heating using a furnace. Results show the effect of base glass composition, dopant species, and infrared radiation intensity on the relative outgassing response of samples exposed to light with those heated by a furnace and are discussed in the context of the hydrogen storage application.