Hydrogen storage is one of the challenges to be overcome for implementing the ever sought hydrogen economy. Here we report a novel cycle to reversibly form high density hydrogen storage materials such as aluminium hydride. Aluminium hydride (AlH{sub 3}, alane) has a hydrogen storage capacity of 10.1 wt% H{sub 2}, 149 kg H{sub 2}/m{sup 3} volumetric density and can be discharged at low temperatures (