Zarar Rasheed: Breaking the Wall of Hydrogen Storage

Zarar Rasheed, Robinson Research Institute, Victoria University of Wellington

Hydrogen fuel stations store gas at extremely high pressures, posing serious safety concerns. TiFe alloys offer a safer, solid-state hydrogen storage alternative but are expensive to produce. We are breaking this wall by creating TiFe alloys sustainably from ilmenite mineral sands, making hydrogen refuelling safer, more affordable, and accessible for the green energy transition.

Zarar is a PhD candidate at Robinson Research Institute, working on low-cost hydrogen storage materials from New Zealand’s mineral resources. His project is part of He Honoka Hauwai, the German-NZ Green Hydrogen Centre. He is passionate about energy, sustainability, and critical materials. Zarar has contributed to the ISO Technical Committee on critical raw materials, addressing global resource challenges. He holds a Master’s in industrial technology from UST, South Korea, and a Bachelor’s in Materials Engineering from GIK Institute, Pakistan.