An overview of advanced materials for hydrogen storage

In a future sustainable energy system based on renewable energy, environmentally harmless energy carriers like hydrogen will be of crucial importance. One of the major impediments for the transition to a hydrogen-based energy system is the lack of satisfactory hydrogen storage alternatives. In the last years, the possible to store hydrogen in various materials was extensively studied. This paper is a preliminary study with the focus on advanced nanostructured materials such as solids of large surface area based on carbon structures, metals and different types of metal alloys, other intermetallic compounds, etc. as possibilities for hydrogen storage. The newest materials used for hydrogen storage are light metal alloys. We have so far focused in this review almost exclusively on experimental studies. Also there are presented the most important characteristics of these materials such as mechanical strength, porosity and affinity to hydrogen, and also the recent developments in the search for innovative materials with high hydrogen-storage capacity and our contribution in this field. 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.