Light metal hydrides for reversible hydrogen storage applications

Although hydrogen as a fuel has been extensively regarded as one of the best alternatives, because the exhaust gases in hydrogen-powered vehicles mainly contain water, storage of hydrogen in an efficient, safe, and economical method remains an unsolved challenge for its widespread use. Nanoconfinement has been widely verified to be an effective and efficient tool to relieve the high kinetic barriers and thermodynamic stability of various complex hydrides which have high gravimetric and volumetric hydrogen capacities.The objective of this thesis is to improve the hydrogen storage performance of certain complex hydrides, such as sodium zinc borohydride, lithium borohydride, lithium nitride, and lithium amidoborane, by taking advantage of nanoconfinement. Based on the special physical and chemical properties of different materials, a series of synthetic methods were designed, and the synergistic effects of space-confinement, nanosize, and morphology towards enhancing hydrogen storage performance have been investigated in detail.