Heterofullerene C48B12-impregnated MOF-5 and IRMOF-10 for hydrogen storage: A combined DFT and GCMC simulations study

Abstract

The H2 storage properties of isoreticular metal-organic framework materials (IRMOFs), MOF-5 and IRMOF-10, impregnated with different numbers and types of heterogeneous C48B12 molecules were investigated using density functional theory and grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) calculations. The excess hydrogen adsorption isotherms of IRMOFs at 77 K within 20 bar indicate that suitable number and type of C48B12 molecules play a crucial role in improving the H2 storage properties of IRMOFs. Among the studied pure and nC48B12 (n = 1, 2, 4, 8) in Ci symmetry impregnating into MOF-5, at 77 K under 6 bar, MOF-5-4C48B12 with a 3.5 wt% and 29.9 g/L hydrogen storage density, and at 77 K under 12 bar, the pure MOF-5 with a 4.9 wt% and 31.0 g/L hydrogen storage density has the best hydrogen storage properties. Whereas, among the studied pure and nC48B12 (n = 1, 2, 4, 8) in S6 symmetry impregnating into IRMOF-10, IRMOF-10-8C48B12 always shows the best hydrogen storage properties among the pure and C48B12-impregnated IRMOF-10 at 77 K within 20 bar. IRMOF-10-8C48B12 has a 6.0 wt% and 34.6 g/L hydrogen storage density at 77 K under 6 bar, and has a 7.1 wt% and 41.4 g/L hydrogen storage density at 77 K under 12 bar. The confinement effect of IRMOFs on C48B12 molecules, and steric hindrance effect of C48B12 molecules on IRMOFs mainly affects the H2 uptake capacity by comparing the absolute H2 molecules in individual IRMOFs units, C48B12 molecules, and IRMOFs-nC48B12 compounds. The absolute hydrogen adsorption profiles show that eight C48B12 molecules impregnating into MOF-5 can exert obvious steric effects for H2 adsorption. The saturated gravimetric and volumetric H2 densities of IRMOF-10-8C48B12 higher than those of MOF-5-8C48B12 due to with larger free volume.