A review on recent advances in hollow spheres for hydrogen storage

Abstract Recent advancements in synthesizing materials potential for hydrogen storage have greatly forced the hydrogen storage technology ahead in recent years. Hollow spheres, with unparalleled characteristics like low density and high specific surface area, have emerged as one of the most promising alternatives for hydrogen storage applications. In the present review, the main synthesis approaches of hollow spheres including spray drying, Kirkendall, template-free and, template-assisted methods are surveyed and concisely described. In addition, different types of hollow spheres such as hollow carbons, hollow glasses and other less-common types like Boron nitrides and metal hollow spheres have been tackled with special focus on adsorption/desorption capacities as well as the kinetic of hydrogen storage/release. In addition to the recent progresses, some perspective and outlook on the advancement of hollow spheres and challenges in terms of synthesis methods and hydrogen storage performance were presented.