The research project "H2BS - Novel barrier layers for cost-effective and high-strength steels for hydrogen technology" is providing new impetus in hydrogen technology. Innovative solutions for safe and efficient storage and handling are needed to establish hydrogen as the energy carrier of the future. High-alloy steels, carbon or polymer-based materials are predominantly used in existing tanks, pipes and fittings. However, these are either costly or gas permeable and associated with high fuel loss rates. Cheaper steels are subject to the phenomenon of hydrogen-induced corrosion. Hydrogen penetrates the steel structure and leads to embrittlement of the material and cracking. This means that they are currently still unsuitable for storing hydrogen.
This is precisely where the three research institutes Leibnitz Institute (Greifswald), Helmholtz Center (Geesehacht) and the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research (Düsseldorf) come in and are working together to develop plasma processes for the production of barrier layers to prevent the penetration of hydrogen into the steel surface. If the project is successful, more cost-effective steels that have not previously been considered for hydrogen technology can then be used in future to manufacture hydrogen tanks and other components for the hydrogen infrastructure, thus enabling more cost-effective systems for mobile and stationary hydrogen applications. At the end of the project, the basic principles for a coating process for the production of barrier layers with defined properties should be available, which sufficiently protect the various steel materials against the diffusion of hydrogen into and through them, depending on the planned conditions of use, and thus successfully prevent their embrittlement.
