Research frontier on new materials and concepts for hydrogen storage

In the past two years, a number of research projects on new materials and concepts for hydrogen storage were started at US universities and national laboratories, as well as industrial entities. These projects are sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE), with the primary goal of discovering and developing new materials that have sufficient hydrogen storage capacity for future hydrogen-fueled vehicles. Four areas are being explored: (1) new materials that have ultra large adsorption area; (2) adsorption surfaces with highly active sites; (3) new adsorption/desorption mechanisms; and (4) high hydrogen-content compounds. This article reviews these projects with the authors’ understanding of hydrogen storage fundamentals, and hopes to provide insights into this research frontier.