Effect of carbon nanoscaffolds on hydrogen storage performance of magnesium hydride

With a growing concern on climate change, hydrogen has attracted great attention as an alternative energy fuel. The hydrogen economy allows us to accomplish a high level of energy security and realize zero emission. To successfully establish the hydrogen economy, the development of sustainable hydrogen production, storage and fuel cell technologies is important; among them, safe and stable hydrogen storage remains more challenging. In this review, we briefly introduce solid-state hydrogen storage materials, focusing on metal hydrides and hydrogen sorption mechanism with emphasis on the related thermodynamic and kinetic obstacles. To overcome such limits, nanoconfinement is regarded as a representative strategy since it can modify hydrogen sorption kinetics and thermodynamics of metal hydrides. We present a nanoconfinement effect of metal hydrides on hydrogen sorption properties, spotlighting carbon scaffolds for confinement. With a rational design of the composite based on metal hydrides and carbon scaffolds, a potential application of solid-state hydrogen storage will be a stepping-stone on the path to a hydrogen economy.