Hydrogen-rich boron-containing materials for hydrogen storage.

Hydrogen-rich boron-containing compounds have received extensive attention as potential hydrogen storage media for vehicular applications. The past years have seen significant progresses in material discovery, material composition/structure tailoring, catalyst identification and regeneration chemistry, which give rise to state-of-the-art hydrogen storage materials/technologies. Lithium tetrahydroborate-related materials exhibit the hitherto highest reversible hydrogen capacity via solid-gas reactions. Catalytic hydrolysis of sodium tetrahydroborate offers an on-demand hydrogen generation system for vehicular applications. Ammonia borane-related materials exhibit a satisfactory combination of material properties that are suited for on-board hydrogen sources, coupled with significant advances in spent fuels regeneration. This Perspective discusses the current progresses of these representative reversible or irreversible material systems, aiming at providing an outline of the forefront of hydrogen storage materials/technologies for transportation applications.