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Green hydrogen, proposed as a sustainable alternative for conventional fuels, has gained utmost importance due to its reduced carbon footprint and potential application in maintaining balance between energy generation and demand. Utilization of hydrogen-based systems are challenged by cost effective storage methods. Bio-hydrogen storage technologies using cryogenic and adsorptive methods are discussed in this review paper, along with their operating conditions and storage capacities. An analysis of operational challenges and recent advancements in hydrogen storage techniques is presented. With a storage pressure of 70 MP, cryogenic hydrogen is almost twice as dense as compressed hydrogen. Technical challenges such as material cost and explosion risk can be addressed by hydrogen adsorption on activated carbon active sites. Maximum hydrogen storage capacity are reported by activated carbon obtained from Chitosan (6.77 wt%), Bamboo (6.6 wt%) and African palm shell (6.5 wt%) at 77 K and 4–20 Mpa. Further, nanotechnology approaches are presented in detail for increasing hydrogen storage capacity in pristine Si and Mg. The future perspectives in terms of technological, and economic aspects are discussed. • Detailed review on hydrogen storage methods is presented. • Role of cryogenics and adsorptive media are discussed. • The comparative performance of various methods is tabulated. • Existing research gap and future perspectives are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pressure on reducing greenhouse gas emissions has increased since the focus on climate change mitigation has grown. As the human development index is directly related to per capita energy consumption, sustainable energy production with reduced carbon footprint is the essential pathway for cleaner environment. Over numerous existing biological processes, hydrogen production via photo fermentation and photolysis of water is considered a more sustainable and economical method of hydrogen production. While both biological modes suffer from certain limitations, such as low yields and low production rates, practical implementation is still a long way off due to these limitations. The unique properties of nanomaterials (NMs) can help increase the efficiency of the biomass to biohydrogen process in significant ways. Applications of organic and inorganic nanoparticles in photocatalytic and photo fermentative hydrogen production is discussed in this paper. This review reports a wide range of applications of nanomaterials including the details of photo fermentative microorganisms and their mechanism of action. The maximum photo fermentative bio-H 2 production was reported in the presence of SiC–Fe 3 O 4 (3.02 mol H 2 /mol acetate), Ni (41 mol H 2 /mol sugar), graphite-C 3 N 4 (64.2 mol H 2 /mol sugar) whereas photocatalytic bio-H 2 yield was highest when Pd–Ni/CdS (54 mmol/g.h), Ni-MO/g-C 3 N 4 (1785 mmol/g.h) and CuO/TiO 2 (20.3 mmol/g.h) nanoparticles were employed. To design photocatalytic systems for practical and scalable use, the future research should be focused on deeper theoretical knowledge of mechanisms of light harvesting, ± charge separation and transport, surface biochemical reactions, semiconductor–liquid interactions, and reactor dynamics. [Display omitted] • Recent developments for improving water photolysis and photo-fermentation are reviewed. • Applications of organic and inorganic nanoparticles in hydrogen production are discussed. • The working principle and mechanism of hydrogen production are discussed. • The influence of key operating factors are presented. • Scope for future research was presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]