Carbon aerogels doped with nanoscaled Co particles were prepared by first coating activated carbon aerogels using a wet-thin layer coating process. The resulting metal-doped carbon aerogels had a higher surface area (similar to 1667 m(2) g(-1)) and larger micropore volume (similar to 0.6 cm(3) g(-1)) than metal-doped carbon aerogels synthesised using other methods suggesting their usefulness in catalytic applications. The hydrogen adsorption behaviour of cobalt doped carbon aerogel was evaluated, displaying a high similar to 4.38 wt.% H(2) uptake under 4.6 MPa at -196 degrees C. The hydrogen uptake capacity with respect to unit surface area was greater than for pure carbon aerogel and resulted in similar to 1.3 H(2) (Wt. %) per 500 m(2) g(-1). However, the total hydrogen uptake was slightly reduced as compared to pure carbon aerogel due to a small reduction in surface area associated with cobalt doping. The improved adsorption per unit surface area suggests that there is a stronger interaction between the hydrogen molecules and the cobalt doped carbon aerogel than for pure carbon aerogel. Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. All rights reserved.