General motors this week announced a $10m (£5.3m) research programme to find better ways of storing hydrogen fuel in cars using metal hydrides, and a new hydride blend that punches well above its weight. Solid metal hydrides can absorb hydrogen molecules into their structure and release them to power a fuel cell without the danger, bulk and inefficiency of compressed or cooled tanks. The process is well known, but researchers have yet to find a blend that holds sufficient hydrogen and releases it fast enough at low temperatures.
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