Hydrogen, a renewable and recyclable energy, has been regarded as the best solution for global energy supply in the 21^st century. Hydrogen production, hydrogen storage and hydrogen sensing are three most important aspects for hydrogen economy. Interestingly, the lightest solid, carbon aerogels (CAs), has found wide applications in these aspects due to its unique characteristics including large specific surface area, hierarchical porous structure, high electrical conductivity, superb chemical stability, and low fabrication cost. Herein, various fabrication strategies of CAs are presented, and their applications in the three most important aspects are comprehensively reviewed. In addition, the challenges and prospects are also discussed. In the light of the recent progress in CAs for hydrogen-related applications, this review provides a comprehensive assessment on materials selection, synthesis, hydrogen adsorption characteristics of CAs and catalytic activity of CA-supported nanocatalysts, offering a strategic guide to build a close connection between CAs and hydrogen economy.

Well-oriented hexagonal WO₃ nanorod arrays (h-WNRs) with an average diameter of 150 ± 50 nm and a length of 2.0–3.0 μm have been successfully realized on a Cu substrate on a large scale via a simple hydrothermal method without organic additives and substrate pre-treatment. The morphology, crystallinity, atomic composition and chemical state of WNRs are investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The morphology evolution and growth mechanism of well-aligned WNRs are intensively studied. Moreover, the supercapacitive properties of WNRs with different diameters and aspect ratios are also examined. WNRs exhibit excellent cycling stability and reversibility (97%), a high specific capacitance (463 F g⁻¹) at a current density of 1.0 A g⁻¹, and a lower charge transfer resistance (0.8 Ω).