Hydrogen Production, Purification, Storage, Transportation, and Their Applications: A Review

The world is looking for clean and green energy as substitution for fossil fuels to minimize the greenhouse effect and climate changes threatening our existence. Solar energy, wind energy, and hydrogen gas-based energy are few examples of promising sources of energy alternatives to fossil fuels. Hydrogen gas-based energy is in focus today due to its availability in plenty of combined forms such as water, hydrocarbons, natural gases, etc. However, its storage and transportation are major challenges due to the low volumetric density and explosive nature of hydrogen. The scientific community is in search of suitable, economically viable, and energy-efficient storage systems and transportation of hydrogen gas. Based on numerous studies, surface adsorption of hydrogen by high surface area nanoporous solids such as carbon and metal-organic framework (MOF)-based nanofiber materials are most suitable for storage applications. Electrospinning process provides a gateway for the preparation of lightweight, highly porous nanofibers for efficient hydrogen adsorption. Herein, the production and use of electrospun polymer nanofibers and MOFs for the storage and transportation of hydrogen are presented.

Automated summary

The world is searching for clean and green energy alternatives to fossil fuels in order to reduce the greenhouse effect and climate change threats. Promising sources of energy alternatives include solar energy, wind energy, and hydrogen gas-based energy. However, the storage and transportation of hydrogen gas face major challenges due to its low volumetric density and explosive nature. Based on numerous studies, high surface area nanoporous solids like carbon and metal-organic framework (MOF)-based nanofiber materials are found to be suitable for hydrogen storage applications. The production and usage of electrospun polymer nanofibers and MOFs for hydrogen storage and transportation are presented in this article.