Effective hydrogen storage: a strategic chemistry challenge

Abstract

This paper gives an overview of the current status and future potential of hydrogen storage from a chemistry perspective and is based on the concluding presentation of the Faraday Discussion 151--Hydrogen Storage Materials. The safe, effective and economical storage of hydrogen is one of the main scientific and technological challenges in the move towards a low-carbon economy. One key sector is transportation where future vehicles will most likely be developed around a balance of battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell electric technologies. Although there has been a very significant research effort in solid-state hydrogen storage, high-pressure gas storage combined with conventional metal hydrides is still seen as the current intermediate-term candidate for car manufacturers. Significant issues have arisen in the search for improved solid-state hydrogen storage materials; for example, facile reversibility has been a major challenge for many recently studied complex hydrides while physisorption in porous structures is still restricted to cryogenic temperatures. However, many systems fulfil the majority of necessary criteria for improved hydrogen storage--indeed, the discovery of reversibility in multicomponent hydride systems along with recent chemistry breakthroughs in off-board and solvent-assisted regeneration suggest that the goal of both improved on-board reversible and off-board regenerated hydrogen storage systems can be achieved.