Recent Advances in Hydrogen Production, Storage, and Fuel Cell Technologies with an Emphasis on Inventions, Innovations, and Commercialization

The future is bright for hydrogen as a clean, mobile energy source to replace petroleum products. This paper examines new and emerging technologies for hydrogen production, storage and conversion and highlights recent commercialization efforts to realize its potential. Also, the paper presents selected notable patents issued within the last few years. There is no shortage of inventions and innovations in hydrogen technologies in both academia and industry. While metal hydrides and functionalized carbon-based materials have improved tremendously as hydrogen storage materials over the years, storing gaseous hydrogen in underground salt caverns has also become feasible in many commercial projects. Production of “blue hydrogen” is rising as a method of producing hydrogen in large quantities economically. Although electric/battery powered vehicles are dominating the green transport today, innovative hydrogen fuel cell technologies are knocking at the door, because of their lower refueling time compared to EV charging time. However, the highest impact of hydrogen technologies in transportation might be seen in the aviation industry. Hydrogen is expected to play a key role and provides hope in transforming aviation into a zero-carbon emission transportation over the next few decades.