ABSTRACT
The continuous consumption of fossil energy and the resultant server pollution have driven great effort to develop clean and sustainable energy. Hydrogen, as an energy carrier, plays a very important role in the future energy system for its high energy density, being 142 kJ/g, and clean burning by-product, being water.1 Hydrogen energy can be used in stationary power stations for distributed energy supplier and mobile power supplier for on-board applications. To make use of hydrogen energy, safe and ef›cient hydrogen storage technology is required with suitable charging/ discharging rate under appropriate temperature and pressure conditions, normally near-ambient temperature and pressure, in addition to the environmental and economic considerations. For future on-board applications, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has set the targets as given in Table 15.1.2
Over the last two decades, great efforts have been made on the development of high-capacityhydrogenstorageingas,liquid,andsolidstate.Solid-statehydrogen storage,whichstoreshydrogenbyeitherchemicalorphysicalsorptioninsolidmaterials,exhibitsgreatadvantagesinvolumetricandgravimetrichydrogenstoragedensityaswellassafety.However,thetrade-offbetweenstoragedensityandsorption rate becomes a great challenge for practical application of hydrogen storage materialsinthepowersuppliersystems,inparticularforon-boardfuelcellapplication.For thisreason,manynewmaterialshavebeendevelopedforreversibleandirreversible hydrogen storage.
