As governments and industry look to hydrogen as a key part of the clean-energy transition, a new international review has highlighted the materials that could determine whether hydrogen can be stored, transported and used safely, efficiently and at scale.
Published in Nature Reviews Clean Technology, the review was written in collaboration with the International Energy Agency Hydrogen Technology Collaboration Programme.
It found there is no one-size-fits-all solution for hydrogen storage.
Instead, different materials, ranging from metal hydrides and nanoporous materials to liquid organic hydrogen carriers and ammonia, each offer advantages for different parts of a future hydrogen economy.
Paper co-author Associate Professor Terry Humphries, from the Curtin Institute for Energy Transition, said the review examined the role of hydrogen-based materials across several clean-energy applications, including hydrogen storage and transport, hydrogen compression, electrochemical energy storage and thermal energy storage.
“The review points to several promising opportunities, including metal hydride compressors that can compress hydrogen without moving parts or lubricants, solid and liquid electrolytes for next-generation batteries, and hydride-based systems that could help capture and reuse industrial waste heat or store solar thermal energy,” said Associate Professor Humphries.
“The key message is that hydrogen’s future will depend not only on how it is produced, but on the materials and systems that make it practical to store, move and use where it is needed.”
The findings arrive as governments around the world ramp up investment in hydrogen infrastructure, betting on the gas to help decarbonise sectors such as heavy transport, steelmaking and long-duration energy storage that are difficult to electrify directly.
However, turning that ambition into reality has proven challenging, in large part because hydrogen is notoriously difficult to handle.
It has a low volumetric energy density, requires extreme compression or cryogenic cooling to store efficiently, and can pose safety risks if not managed carefully.
The review’s authors argue that solving these challenges will require matching the right material to the right application, rather than searching for a single universal solution.
Metal hydrides, for example, offer a way to compress hydrogen mechanically without relying on moving parts, potentially reducing maintenance costs and improving reliability in industrial settings.
Nanoporous materials and liquid organic hydrogen carriers, meanwhile, present different trade-offs around storage density, cost and ease of transport, making them better suited to other parts of the supply chain, such as long-distance shipping or large-scale stationary storage.
The review also points to applications beyond storage and transport.
Solid and liquid electrolytes derived from hydrogen-related chemistry could play a role in next-generation battery technology, while hydride-based systems show promise for capturing and reusing industrial waste heat or storing solar thermal energy for later use, potentially improving the overall efficiency of clean-energy systems.
By bringing together research from across the international hydrogen community, the authors say the review is intended to give researchers, industry and policymakers a clearer picture of where current materials stand and where further development is needed.
As the global hydrogen economy continues to take shape, they say decisions made now about which materials to invest in and develop could have lasting implications for how quickly and safely hydrogen can be scaled up as a mainstream energy carrier.