  Carbons are being widely investigated as hydrogen storage material owing to
their light weight, fast hydrogen adsorption kinetics and cost effectiveness.
However, these materials suffer from low hydrogen storage capacity,
particularly at room temperature. The aim of the present study is to develop
carbon-based material from natural bio-precursor which shows at least moderate
hydrogen storage at room temperature. For this purpose, hydrogenation
characteristics of carbon derived from solid endosperm of coconut is studied.
Solid endosperm and its carbonized version have a native grown distribution of
light elements like K (from KCl), Na, Mg, etc. The hydrogen storage
measurements reveal that the as synthesized materials have good hydrogen
adsorption and desorption capacity with fast kinetics. The synthesized material
adsorbs 2.30 wt. % at room temperature and 8.00 wt.% at liquid nitrogen
temperature under 70 atm pressure. The present work is likely to initiate
research on native light metal bearing carbon derived from natural precursors.
