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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Anh Phan
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© 2026 Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies. The development of practical hydrogen (H2) storage materials remains constrained by the difficulty of achieving meaningful storage capacity at near-ambient conditions, while maintaining structural integrity under repeated adsorption-desorption cycling. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and activated carbons are attractive physisorbents due to their intrinsic safety, rapid kinetics, and reversibility; however, their H2 capacities at near room temperature are typically modest, and some porous structures can exhibit capacity fade under repeated high-pressure operation. In this study, a sustainable MIL-53(Al)/biochar hybrid composite designed to balance deliverable performance and cycling durability. Activated bamboo-derived biochar provides an ultrahigh surface area adsorption matrix (1328 m2/g) with a micropore-rich structure that promotes H2 uptake, while MIL-53(Al) contributes an ordered porous sub-lattice that can help preserve pore accessibility and mechanical robustness within the composite. The resulting hybrid exhibits a hierarchical pore architecture (806 m2/g; 0.5 cm3/g), enabling efficient physisorption and favorable mass transport. At 25 °C and 50 bar, the hybrid achieves an excess gravimetric H2 uptake of ∼1.2 wt%, exceeding pristine MIL-53(Al) (∼0.5 wt%) and activated biochar (∼0.8 wt%), and comparing favorably with many porous carbon and MOF-based adsorbents reported under identical conditions. Kinetic analysis is well described by a pseudo-first-order model, consistent with a physisorption dominated uptake process governed by surface-site availability and rapid diffusion through the hierarchical pore network. Notably, the hybrid retains ∼95% of its initial uptake after 10 adsorption-desorption cycles, outperforming the standalone activated biochar (∼60% retention) and highlighting the stabilizing role of the MIL-53(Al) phase during repeated pressurization/depressurization. Overall, these results demonstrate that biochar–MOF hybridization offers a feasible and scalable route to durable, reversible solid-state H2 storage materials for practical, non-cryogenic operation at near-ambient temperature.
Author(s): Akindoye SB, Chandran R, Phayutcharoenkun P, Phan AN, Prasertcharoensuk P
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Energy Storage
Year: 2026
Volume: 160
Print publication date: 01/06/2026
Online publication date: 30/03/2026
Acceptance date: 28/03/2026
ISSN (print): 2352-152X
ISSN (electronic): 2352-1538
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2026.121904
DOI: 10.1016/j.est.2026.121904
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