Ammonia borane has been suggested as a storage medium for hydrogen, e.g. for when the gas is used to fuel motor vehicles. It can be made to release hydrogen on heating, being polymerized first to , then to , which ultimately decomposes to boron nitride (BN) at temperatures above 1000 °C. It is more hydrogen-dense than liquid hydrogen and also able to exist at normal temperatures and pressures.
Ammonia borane finds some use in organic synthesis as an air-stable derivative of diborane. It can be used as a reducing agent in transfer hydrogenation reactions, often in the presence of a transition metal catalyst.