Design Rules for Metal-Organic Framework Stability in High-Pressure Hydrogen Environments

Stability of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) under hydrogen is of particular importance for a diverse range of applications, including catalysis, gas separations, and hydrogen storage. Hydrogen in gaseous form is known to be a strong reducing agent and can potentially react with the secondary building units of a MOF and decompose the porous framework structure. Moreover, rapid pressure swings expected in vehicular hydrogen storage could create significant mechanical stresses within MOF crystals that cause partial or complete pore collapse. In this work, we examined the stability of a structurally representative suite of MOFs by testing them under both static (70 MPa) and dynamic hydrogen exposure (0.5 to 10 MPa, 1000 pressure cycles) at room temperature. We aim to provide stability information for development of near room-temperature hydrogen storage media based on MOFs and suggest framework design rules to avoid materials unstable for hydrogen storage under relevant technical conditions.