Review: next-generation metal hydride systems for sustainable hydrogen storage—kinetics, nanostructuring, and intelligent materials discovery

Abstract Hydrogen is one of the major pillars of the low-carbon economy, but its wide application is limited by difficulties in storage. Metal hydrides (MHs) represent excellent candidates for storage since they are characterized by high volumetric density, reversibility, and safety. This article provides a thorough and integrative review of novel generation MH storage technologies based on intermetallic, complex, magnesium, and chemical hydrides with special focus on thermodynamics and kinetics of these processes. Major restrictions, including high temperatures of desorption, slow kinetics, and cycling instability, are discussed in conjunction with current advanced approaches to address the issue of MH properties improvement, such as catalyst addition, nanoscale modifications, composite materials, and HEA engineering. Special attention is paid to innovative HEA materials, which can improve hydrogen mobility and binding energies due to composition engineering and lattice distortion. In addition, a rapid growth in the use of artificial intelligence algorithms for the fast development of new materials with tailored features and accurate hydrogen storage property prediction is described. Relevance to practice is supported by examples involving hydrogen fuel cells for transport and space applications. Although MH-based storage technologies still have certain drawbacks, such as heat management, material stability, and environmental aspects, they have great promise as reliable and scalable platforms for hydrogen storage.