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Hydrogen carriers

Nature Reviews Materials volume 1, Article number: 16059 (2016) Cite this article

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Abstract

Hydrogen has the potential to be a major energy vector in a renewable and sustainable future energy mix. The efficient production, storage and delivery of hydrogen are key technical issues that require improvement before its potential can be realized. In this Review, we focus on recent advances in materials development for on-board hydrogen storage. We highlight the strategic design and optimization of hydrides of light-weight elements (for example, boron, nitrogen and carbon) and physisorbents (for example, metal–organic and covalent organic frameworks). Furthermore, hydrogen carriers (for example, NH3, CH3OH–H2O and cycloalkanes) for large-scale distribution and for on-site hydrogen generation are discussed with an emphasis on dehydrogenation catalysts.

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Figure 1: Properties of representative materials for hydrogen distribution, on-site generation and on-board storage.
Figure 2: Tuning dehydrogenation thermodynamics.
Figure 3: Porous polymers and covalent organic frameworks for hydrogen storage.
Figure 4: Illustration of the hybrid system.

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Acknowledgements

This work is financially supported by the Project of National Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholars (51225206), the Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association (CAS) of China and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, 116023, China

    Teng He & Ping Chen

  2. National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Ikeda, Osaka, 563-8577, Japan

    Pradip Pachfule & Qiang Xu

  3. NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, 20899-6102, Maryland, USA

    Hui Wu

  4. Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials and State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, 116023, China

    Ping Chen

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He, T., Pachfule, P., Wu, H. et al. Hydrogen carriers. Nat Rev Mater 1, 16059 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/natrevmats.2016.59

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