Current Trends in the Potential Use of the Metal-Organic Framework for Hydrogen Storage

The establishment of a hydrogen (H2) economy is necessary to meet the energy crisis and clean environment standards faced by humanity. However, the scientific challenge in commercializing H2 is the non-availability of efficient and cost-effective storage methods. Currently employed methods for H2 storage are cryogenic and compression, which are not only expensive but also have serious safety issues. Metals-organic frameworks (MOFs) are considered as a potential candidate for reliable hydrogen storage due to their open structure, higher surface area, porosity, and pore volume which is an outcome of a novel hybrid combination of their inorganic and organic moieties. MOFs can adsorb H2 through weak van der Waals force of attraction i.e., physisorption with rapid desorption kinetics. While the spillover mechanism provides high-density H2 storage upon combining with the carbon materials. The effect of various factors, i.e., surface area, pore volume and size, open metal center, catenation, and ligand functionalization over H2 storage capacities of MOFs have been discussed in this chapter. Moreover, recommendations to overcome existing shortfalls in MOFs have been given to make them suitable for commercial H2 storage. This book chapter will provide fundamental knowledge to design advanced functional MOF materials for industrial-scale H2 storage.