Supramolecular crystals show promise for hydrogen storage

A lightweight material that adsorbs high volumes of hydrogen could represent a promising new class of energy storage system. The supramolecular network beats the ‘ultimate’ targets set by the US Department of Energy (DoE) for hydrogen-storage systems in hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles.

Hydrogen is often touted as an important clean energy carrier of the future, but transporting useful quantities of it poses a major challenge. While gram-for-gram hydrogen has around three times the energy content of petrol, it also takes up a lot more space. Even when it’s compressed to 700 times atmospheric pressure, you would need around 7 litres of hydrogen to carry the amount of energy stored in one litre of petrol.