High-pressure methane storage in porous materials: Are carbon materials in the pole position?

Natural gas storage on porous materials (ANG) is a promising alternative to conventional on-board compressed (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG). To date, Metal-organic framework (MOF) materials have apparently been the only system published in the literature that is able to reach the new Department of Energy (DOE) value of 263 cm³ (STP: 273.15 K, 1 atm)/cm³; however, this value was obtained by using the ideal single-crystal density to calculate the volumetric capacity. Here, we prove experimentally, and for the first time, that properly designed activated carbon materials can really achieve the new DOE value while avoiding the additional drawback usually associated with MOF materials (i.e., the low mechanical stability under pressure (conforming), which is required for any practical application).