Agyekum, Ephraim BonahAbdullah, MustafaPravenkumar, SeepanaRashid, Farhan Lafta2026-02-152026-02-1520261383-58661873-379410.1016/j.seppur.2026.1370172-s2.0-105028525247https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2026.137017The global energy market is increasingly focusing on renewable and low-carbon hydrogen energy due to environmental concerns like rising carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. Therefore, researchers are working to develop more sustainable and efficient hydrogen generation and purification methods, with membrane-based gas-separation technologies showing greater efficiency compared to traditional techniques. This research thus, presents a synthesis of lessons from experiments, theory, and bibliometrics, on metal membranes for hydrogen separation and storage applications. According to the results, optimization of noble metal content, grain boundary homogenization, or thin film structure can facilitate high flux rates even for sub-micrometer-thick membranes, and synergy between the membrane and catalyst can move the flux rate beyond the equilibrium limit. Non-noble alloys, especially V-, Nb-, and Ta-based non-noble alloys, can also provide similar flux rates, disregarding limitations on embrittlement, utilizing connectivity, microstructure, or eutectic microstructures. Also, hydrogen solubility was found as a designable thermodynamic parameter, where moderate reduction improves mechanical stability without hindering flux, emphasizing solubility, diffusivity, and topology cooptimization. Both compositional and structural design are found to be essential for the systematic control of hydrogen intake and transport pathways using machine learning and thermodynamic modeling. The bibliometric review shows the progress of research from the original topics of fundamental H-metal interactions, embrittlement, toward optimized, performance-oriented membrane design that accumulates alloy design, surface engineering, prediction modeling, and dynamic analyses. In brief, this study confirms that high flux, mechanical stability, combined lifetime goals are reached through integrated design for bulk/interface attributes, indicating that holistic, multiscale membrane material design is key for scalable, stable H separation, storage, enabling lowcarbon energy transformation.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessHydrogen StorageMetal MembranesHydrogen SolubilityNon-Noble AlloysTransport MechanismsArticle