Hydrogen Storage Methods, Materials, and Challenges: Scientific Exploration

Hydrogen is slated to play an increasingly crucial role in the current worldwide efforts to shift from nonrenewable fossil fuels to renewable and sustainable alternatives. Despite hydrogen’s importance as a renewable fuel and sustainable energy carrier, its properties as light gas pose significant storage challenges that represent a key hurdle for the further development of the hydrogen energy economy. This paper, therefore, investigates the current state of the art in hydrogen storage methods, recognizing their crucial importance and role. Various physical and chemical storage techniques are described, each with its unique advantages and drawbacks. The paper comprehensively reviews each of these strategies, offering insight into recent developments. It covers hydrogen storage systems such as inorganic chemical hydrides, carbon-based materials, and liquid hydrides. The latter are particularly emphasized in this paper, highlighting recent advancements, catalyst materials used and their properties, and recycling challenges and proposed solutions. The paper aims to contribute to the further development of efficient, safe, and sustainable hydrogen storage systems for use in diverse industrial applications in the emerging hydrogen economy.