Recent strategies targeting efficient hydrogen production from chemical hydrogen storage materials over carbon-supported catalysts

Abstract

There is an evident urgent need to find a renewable and clean energy vector to ensure the worldwide energy supply while minimizing environmental impacts, and hydrogen stands out as a promising alternative energy carrier. The social concern around its safe storage is constantly fostering the search for alternative options to conventional storage methods and, in this context, chemical hydrogen storage materials have produced abundant investigations with particular attention to the design of heterogeneous catalysts that can boost the generation of molecular hydrogen. Among the chemical hydrogen storage materials, formic acid and ammonia-borane hold tremendous promise, and some of the recent strategies considered for the preparation of high-performance carbon-supported catalysts are summarized in this review. The outstanding features of carbon materials and their versatility combined with the tunability of the metal active phase properties (e.g., morphology, composition, and electronic features) provide numerous options for the design of promising catalysts.