Special Issue "Hydrogen Storage"

Guest Editor
Dr. Michael Hirscher
Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung, Heisenbergstrasse 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
E-Mail:
Interests: hydrogen storage; micro-porous materials; activated carbons; metal-organic frameworks (MOFs); metal hydrides; complex hydrides; scaffold materials; nanoconfinement

Dear Colleagues,

In a future world with renewable energies and less environmental pollution the major problem is energy storage. Owing to the high energy content by weight, hydrogen is one of the most promising energy carriers for mobile applications. However, hydrogen storage is still the major bottleneck for a fast commercialization of fuel-cell vehicles. The present technologies, as compressed gas or liquefied hydrogen, possess severe disadvantages and storage of hydrogen in light-weight solids or liquids could be the solution to this problem.

This special issue will focus on newest developments in hydrogen storage. Submission of papers on novel materials, possessing high and reversible hydrogen storage capacities, are especially emphasized.

Dr. Michael Hirscher
Guest Editor

Submission

All manuscripts should be submitted to energies@mdpi.org with a copy to the Guest Editor. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed Open Access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this Open Access journal is 800 CHF per accepted paper.

• metal hydrides
• complex hydrides
• amides
• imides
• clathrates
• micro-porous materials
• MOFs
• nanoparticles
• hybrid materials

Title: Metal Borohydrides
Authors: Hai-Wen LI, Shin-ichi Orimo ¹ and Andreas Züttel ²
Affiliations: ¹ Institute for Materials Research (IMR), Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan; E-Mail: orimo@imr.tohoku.ac.jp (S.-i.O.)
² EMPA, Department Environment, Energy and Mobility, Abt. 138 “Hydrogen & Energy”, Überlandstrasse 129, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
Abstract: The widespread use of hydrogen as an energy carrier highly requires developments of new materials with the ability to safely store hydrogen in high gravimetric and volumetric densities. Metal borohydrides M(BH₄)_n (M indicates alkali, alkali-earth and transition metals; and n is the valence of metal M), in which hydrogen is covalently bonded to boron to form a complex anion [BH₄]^-, has been regarded as one of the potential hydrogen storage materials. The goal for on-board applications in fuel cell vehicles is to reversibly store hydrogen in high densities under a moderate temperature and hydrogen pressure. To reach the goal, a large amount of efforts have been put into the improvement of thermodynamic and kinetic aspects. In this review, recent research activities on various M(BH₄)_n will be overviewed, from the viewpoint of new synthesis processes, structural analysess, de- and re-hydrogenation properties, and future prospects.