Innovative methods to enhance the properties of solid hydrogen storage materials based on hydrides through nanoconfinement: A review

Abstract

Implementation of policies to reduce CO2 emissions relies on an increasing prominence of renewable energies. However, application of renewable energy sources also poses challenges. As these energy sources fluctuate during time, it is necessary to develop methods to store the produced energy. Hydrogen is a promising material for chemical storage, but storage of hydrogen is a challenging task as requirements of storage capacity, release kinetics and weight must be met. Extensive research on solid hydrogen storage materials has been carried out in order to accomplish these objectives. Metallic and chemical hydrides are among the most promising storage materials, but they are still limited by thermodynamic and kinetic properties. Nanoconfinement of hydrides in mesoporous or microporous compounds has been proposed as a method to overcome these limitations using supercritical fluids as technique to control the particle sizes. In this work, the main results reported in this expanding research field are reviewed.