A new material has been developed that, if applied successfully in the transport sector, could greatly reduce the pressure at which hydrogen needs to be stored in fuel tanks, as the BBC reports. A highly crystalline aluminium and organic based medium, NU-1501 has as much surface area per gram as a football pitch. It works, according to lead researcher Prof Omar Farha, from Northwestern University, USA, “like a bath sponge but with very ordered cavities”, such that pressure is used to store and release gas molecules (hydrogen or methane). Coming out of work for the US Department of Defense to protect soldiers against nerve gas attacks, NU-1501 has already passed tests set by the US Department of Energy for onboard storage of fuel.