New porous materials show record-breaking gas storage capacity
28 Sep 2026 - Rosie de Laune
A collaboration, led by researchers from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge, has designed and made two new metal organic frameworks that show excellent capacity for storing hydrogen and record-breaking methane storage.
Both hydrogen and methane are promising alternatives to traditional fuels in the transition to clean and renewable energy, with hydrogen expected to play a crucial role in hard-to-electrify sectors such as heavy-duty trucking and shipping.
However, their use is curtailed by the challenge in storing these gases, which traditionally leads to the need for expensive compression or cooling systems, which are also energy intensive. An alternative could be the storage in porous materials, such as metal organic frameworks (MOFs). These offer a safer and more cost-effective way to store gases at lower pressures, but so far, they often require low temperatures, and none have been found that can store the capacities needed for widespread application.
In this study, published in Nature Synthesis, the Adsorption and advanced materials research group led by Professor David Fairen-Jimenez of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (CEB) at Cambridge designed and built two new MOFs that realise a rare highly interconnected ‘red’ topology that had, until recently, remained purely theoretical. These new MOFs, CU-6-Fe and CU-6-Cr, where CU stands for Cambridge University, show exceptional hydrogen and methane capacity.
CU-6-Fe and CU-6-Cr can adsorb up to 17.5 and 15.9 percent of their weight in hydrogen, respectively, at 100 bar and 77 K. Compared to the US Department of Energy’s target for hydrogen storage systems of 5.5 weight percent, this is a huge step forward in potential capacity. They also show record methane storage at ambient temperature and show exceptional stability in air, another key requirement for hydrogen storage applications. The video, right, shows the hydrogen binding sites within the cubic cavity.
Joint first author Dr Xu Chen, postdoctoral research associate at CEB, said: “One of the most exciting aspects of this work was showing that we could build in lab conditions a structure that had been theorised but never physically created. Researchers had predicted this type of topology for years so to see it come together as a stable material for the first time ever was a special moment.”
To design these new MOFs, the team used a semi-rigid organic linker that was flexible enough to accommodate different coordination geometries and framework curvatures while still rigid enough to ensure stability. They combined this with a six-connected metal oxide cluster to form their novel ‘red’ framework, which contains highly interconnected pores.
One of the most exciting aspects of this work was showing that we could build in lab conditions a structure that had been theorised but never physically created. Researchers had predicted this type of topology for years so to see it come together as a stable material for the first time ever was a special moment.
Dr Xu Chen, postdoctoral research associate at CEB
They characterised these new materials using a range of techniques and then came to ISIS to use in situ neutron powder diffraction on the WISH beamline to understand details of the hydrogen adsorption, alongside computational methods.
Using neutrons, thanks to their high sensitivity to lighter elements in the presence of heavier ones, enabled the group to study the sites where the hydrogen adsorbs within the framework. They found that hydrogen adsorption in CU-6-Cr is dominated at low hydrogen levels by weak but preferential interactions around the Cr3O clusters, followed by weaker adsorption around the organic linkers. This creates a favourable balance between the high total uptake and deliverable capacity.
Corresponding author Professor David Fairen-Jimenez said: “This project is a great example of what can be achieved through collaboration. By bringing together expertise in materials design, computation and advanced experimental techniques, we were able to do something that has never been done before and take a big step towards practical uses of MOFs in the clean energy industry.”
Their results establish linker flexibility as a key design parameter for the development of complex, highly porous materials for the high-capacity storage of clean-energy fuel gases.
The full publication can be found at DOI: 10.1038/s44160-026-01163-9
