Abstract
Activated carbon has been synthesized from local palm shell, cardboard and plastics municipal waste in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It exhibits a surface area of 930 m2/g and total pore volume of 0.42 cm3/g. This pristine activated carbon has been further anchored with nickel, palladium and platinum metal particles by ultrasound-assisted impregnation. Deposition of nanosized Pt particles as small as 3 nm has been achieved, while for Ni and Pd their size reaches 100 nm. The solid-gas hydrogenation properties of the pristine and metal-anchored activated carbon have been determined. The pristine material exhibits a reversible hydrogen storage capacity of 2.3 wt% at 77 K and 3 MPa which is higher than for the doped ones. In these materials, the spillover effect due to metal doping is of minor importance in enhancing the hydrogen uptake compared with the counter-effect of the additional mass of the metal particles and pore blocking on the carbon surface.
Highlights
Hydrogen has become a promising substitute for fossil fuels in automotive applications due to its abundance and its higher chemical energy
Activated carbon was successfully synthesized from local palm shell and other wastes
The pristine activated carbon was impregnated with nickel, palladium and platinum
Summary
Hydrogen has become a promising substitute for fossil fuels in automotive applications due to its abundance and its higher chemical energy. The first avenue is chemical storage where chemical bonds occur between hydrogen atoms and receptors to form hydride phases [3,4]. Some of these materials are heavy, expensive and difficult to regenerate on-board. The main factor that limits the storage of hydrogen on the carbon surface is the low energy of adsorption, in the range of 4–8 kJ/mol H2 for most porous carbons. Park et al reported that the amount of hydrogen storage capacity for Multi Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) increased in proportion to the Pt content with an optimum loading value of 4 wt% [14]. Structural and thermal characterizations, the hydrogen storage properties of the metal-anchored activated carbons were determined and compared to those of the pristine material
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