Haydale announces project with Viritech to develop graphene-enhanced epoxy resins for hydrogen storage vessels

Building on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with Viritech in September 2021, Haydale, has announced the next phase with the cleantech engineering company to develop nano-enhanced epoxy resins for hydrogen storage vessels.

The £97,750 Storage of Hydrogen and Nanomaterial Enhancement ('SHYNE') project will run for an initial period of seven months, starting in March.

Haydale will focus on the design and development of new materials and resins based on functionalized graphene using its patented HDPlas technology intended for use in Type V hydrogen storage tanks. The resin can act as a permeation barrier for the storage vessel, but the functionalized graphene also potentially offers greatly enhanced mechanical properties including impact and interlaminar sheer to improve the overall performance of the vessel.

The Type V design aims to deliver further weight savings for applications in hyper car and heavy goods road vehicles. The seven-month SHYNE project will focus on advanced materials technology and methodology with the aim of bringing nano-enhanced epoxy into the hydrogen storage market.

Keith Broadbent, Haydale's CEO, said: "We are delighted to continue our work with Viritech and, together, be leading the way with ground-breaking hydrogen pressure vessel designs. The use of graphene-enhanced materials offers great weight saving properties and through functionalization and advanced materials technology their use in automotive and aerospace applications is expected to speed up exponentially through this program of work."