Tailoring Hydrogen Storage Materials Kinetics and Thermodynamics Through Nanostructuring, and Nanoconfinement With In-Situ Catalysis

For a clean and sustainable society, there is an urgent demand for renewable energy with net-zero emissions due to fossil fuels limited resources and irreversible environmental impact. Hydrogen has the unrivaled potential to replace fossil fuels due to its high gravimetric energy density, abundant sources (H₂O), and environmental friendliness. However, its low volumetric energy density causes significant challenges, inspiring major efforts to develop chemical-based storage alternatives. Solid-state hydrogen storage in materials has substantial potential for fulfilling the practical requirements and is recognized as a potential candidate due to their properties tuning more independently. However, hydrogen's stable thermodynamics and sluggish kinetics are the bottleneck to its widespread applications. To explore the kinetic and thermodynamic barriers in the fundamentals of hydrogen storage materials, this review will provide promising information for researchers to gain detailed knowledge about hydrogen storage energy applications and find new routes for materials engineering with tuned properties. This will further attract a wider scientific community and intend to understand the innovative concepts and strategies developed and to employ them in tailoring hydrogen storage materials' kinetic and thermodynamic properties. Recent advances in nanostructuring, nanoconfinement with in situ catalysts, and host/guest stress/strain engineering have the potential to propel the prospects of tailoring the hydrogen storage materials properties at the nanoscale with several promising directions and strategies that could lead to the next generation of solid-state hydrogen storage practical applications.