Hydrothermal synthesis of DyMn2O5/Ba3Mn2O8 nanocomposite as a potential hydrogen storage material

Abstract

In this study, DyMn2O5/Ba3Mn2O8 nanocomposites were prepared by hydrothermal route as potential hydrogen storage materials, for the first time. The effect of hydrothermal reaction time and calcination temperature was considered to achieve the optimum size and morphology. Although the knowledge of hydrogen energy propagated present days, the application of mixed metal oxide nanocomposites as a hydrogen sorbent has not been studied. The prepared nanocomposites with various sizes and morphologies were examined by scanning and transmission electron microscopies (SEM and TEM). X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) were carried out to consider purity and chemical compositions of nanocomposites. Amongst the hydrogen storage routes, electrochemical method is the best because of in situ hydrogen generation and storage at room pressure and temperature conditions. The electrochemical hydrogen storage performance of optimized nanocomposite was investigated in different currents of 0.5 and 1 mA. After 15 cycles, the discharging capacities of nanocomposite in currents of 0.5 and 1 mA were reported 760 and 1600 mAh.g−1, respectively.