Deakin University is working on developing new free materials for a radiation-free proton-boron fusion power source, which has huge promise for creating clean hydrogen and nuclear energy.

Professor Ying (Ian) Chen is leading the effort, and the university has secured two new Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage grants to assist it.

The two Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM) teams and their industry collaborators will use the safe energy storage potential of boron nitride nanosheets and the unique biological features of silk to achieve their goals.

When compared to typical nuclear energy generation, the university believes that the fusion reaction between hydrogen and boron nuclei might produce a highly efficient, radioactivity-free source of nuclear energy with virtually infinite fuel stocks.

The university stated that it expects to produce a brand new H11B nanomaterial with significantly higher hydrogen storage capacity as well as a new technology for the manufacture of BN nanosheets with controlled hydrogen content as a result of its research.

Focusing on hydrogen, it is believed that the new hydrogen storage methods and innovative hydrogen storage materials developed as a result of this research would contribute to the burgeoning hydrogen energy economy, with potential uses in hydrogen fuel cells, in line with Deakin’s Hycel project.