Hydrogen storage capacity of two-dimensional MoS2

Abstract

Hydrogen storage holds a crucial place for the future of the world in terms of green energy. Two-dimensional materials, in particular, are important in this regard. The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of MoS2 which is one of the most popular member of two-dimensional materials family. To do this, bulk and exfoliated MoS2 were used. Firstly, the liquid phase exfoliation method was employed to obtain exfoliated MoS2 layers. Then, the hydrogen storage potential of the bulk and exfoliated MoS2 was addressed under 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 bar hydrogen pressure. After the absorption process, all the samples were characterized using XRD, Raman Spectrometer, and BET ahead of evaluating their hydrogen storage potential. The XRD pattern showed that the peak positions of bulk and exfoliated MoS2 were not affected critically by hydrogen storage. In the Raman spectra, the A1g and E2g1 peaks of all hydrogenated materials shifted to low wavelengths. Moreover, the BET measurements revealed that the specific surface area and the pore size of the bulk MoS2 were 12.31 m2/g and ≤67.46 nm respectively. Additionally, the specific surface area and the pore size of the exfoliated MoS2 were 23.16 m2/g and ≤69.28 nm, respectively. The hydrogen storage potential of the bulk and the exfoliated MoS2 was evaluated through an MFC in sccm unit. The bulk and exfoliated MoS2 stored 220 and 450 sccm hydrogen, respectively. Besides, the weight percent hydrogen storage for H–MoS2 and H-exfoliated MoS2 was determined to be 1.2 and 2.4 wt%, respectively. In summary, this study has shown that exfoliated MoS2, one of the two-dimensional materials, can play a critical role for hydrogen storage due to their high specific surface area.