Porous metal–organic frameworks for hydrogen storage

The high gravimetric energy density and environmental benefits place hydrogen as a promising alternative to the widely used fossil fuels, which is however impeded by the lack of safe, energy-saving and cost-effective H₂ storage systems. The use of solid adsorbents as candidate materials offers a less energy-intensive way of storing hydrogen. The exceptional diversity and tunability of the chemical composition, topological structure, and surface chemistry together with large surface area position porous metal-organic frameworks as promising hydrogen storage material candidates. In this review, we first introduce several classes of important metal-organic frameworks for hydrogen storage, and then highlight the progress associated with the key challenges to be addressed, including the improvement of hydrogen-framework interaction required for enhancing room-temperature hydrogen storage capacities, and the optimization/balance of both gravimetric and volumetric storage/working capacities. In particular, the strategies used to tune and enhance hydrogen binding energies have been comprehensively reviewed. Future development prospects and related challenges of using porous metal-organic frameworks as hydrogen storage materials are also outlined. This feature review provides a wide perspective and insightful thoughts and suggestions for hydrogen storage using metal-organic frameworks, and promotes the further development of hydrogen storage materials to realize a hydrogen economy.