Hydrogen safety in production and storage: A critical review of materials–hydrogen interactions and intrinsically safe strategies

Hydrogen safety forms the cornerstone of the entire hydrogen industry safety system. Unlike the leakage risks at the application end, the core risks in the production/storage process stem from the degradation and deterioration of materials under long-term hydrogen exposure. This review critically assesses the safety challenges and technological advances in water electrolysis and in gaseous, cryogenic, and solid-state hydrogen storage. In production, we examine multi-scale failure mechanisms across alkaline, PEM, anion exchange membrane, and solid oxide electrolysis, including strong alkali corrosion, gas-liquid separation imbalance, hydrogen crossover, and membrane degradation. In storage, we analyze hydrogen embrittlement, liner collapse, boil-off loss, thermal runaway, and particle pulverization, along with emerging mitigation strategies. From the existing studies, it can be seen that the material-hydrogen interaction over a long time scale is the main cause of safety risks, while the dynamic conditions introduced by the coupling of renewable energy sources further amplify the system risks through the multi-physics field coupling effect. Based on the review of the current research status, this paper summarizes the common challenges currently faced: the mismatch between the single mechanism research and the actual multi-physical field coupling scenarios, the scarcity of long-term dynamic verification data, and the insufficiency of online diagnosis capabilities for early failures. Accordingly, three priority research directions are proposed: the design of intrinsic safety materials, the system safety prediction and intelligent diagnosis framework for multi-physical field coupling, and the standardized accelerated testing procedures adapted to industrial needs.