Nanoscale Hydrogen Storage: Physisorption vs Chemisorption

Hydrogen molecules drift toward a nanoporous scaffold and take one of two very different storage paths. On the cold outer surface they can weakly physisorb intact, held only by van der Waals forces — fast to load, fast to release. Where the surface carries a catalytic metal nanoparticle, an H2 molecule can instead dissociate into two hydrogen atoms that migrate into interstitial sites deep in the lattice, forming a metal hydride — slower to activate, but locking in far more hydrogen per gram until enough heat is added to drive it back out. Dial temperature, pressure and catalyst loading to watch the two capacities trade off in real time.