Hydrogen storage capacity has been investigated on a copper-based metal organic framework named HKUST-1 with fine structural analyses. The crystalline structure of HKUST-1 MOF has been confirmed from the powder X-ray diffraction and the average particle diameter has been found about 15-20 mu m identified by FE-SEM. Nitrogen adsorption isotherms show that HKUST-1 MOF has approximately type-I isotherm with a BET specific surface area of 1055 m(2)g(-1). Hydrogen adsorption study shows that this material can store 0.47 wt.% of H-2 at 303 K and 35 bar. The existence of Cu (II) in crystalline framework of HKUST-1 MOF has been confirmed by pre-edge XANES spectra. The sharp feature at 8985.8 eV in XANES spectra represents the dipole-allowed electron transition from is to 4p(xy). In addition, EXAFS spectra indicate that HKUST-1 MOF structure has the Cu-O bond distance of 1.95 angstrom with a coordination number of 4.2. Copyright (C) 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.