Chapter 28 - Current development in MOFs for hydrogen storage: a mechanistic investigation

Abstract

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are an interesting group of porous materials that are currently being studied, and novel variants are constantly being prepared. They find their use and applications in various fields, but gas adsorption has always been and still is the dominant field of MOFs application. The constantly increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to transport and other anthropogenic activities is associated with many undesirable global and morphological changes on the planet. For this reason, it is necessary to develop new technologies that will in the future replace the currently widely used combustion engines working on fossil fuels with alternative eco-friendly technologies. One alternative is hydrogen-powered engines, as hydrogen is an ideal alternative to fossil fuels as it has a higher efficiency and the product of its combustion is water, which does not cause any environmental burden to the environment. Hydrogen engine technology is currently being developed at a very high level, but tanks with sufficient stored hydrogen are the main challenge. Many materials are studied in this area, including MOFs. This chapter deals with the structure and application of MOFs as hydrogen adsorbents. It describes properties such as the size and functional groups present on the ligand, interpenetration, coordinatively unsaturated sites, ion-exchange process, and nanoparticles in cavities on the resulting hydrogen storage capacity in MOF materials.