Abstract
Porous materials such as metal organic frameworks (MOFs), zeolite templated carbons (ZTC), and some porous polymers have endeared the research community for their attractiveness for hydrogen (H2) storage applications. This is due to their remarkable properties, which among others include high surface areas, high porosity, tunability, high thermal, and chemical stability. However, despite their extraordinary properties, their lack of processability due to their inherent powdery nature presents a constraining factor for their full potential for applications in hydrogen storage systems. Additionally, the poor thermal conductivity in some of these materials also contributes to the limitations for their use in this type of application. Therefore, there is a need to develop strategies for producing functional porous composites that are easy-to-handle and with enhanced heat transfer properties while still retaining their high hydrogen adsorption capacities. Herein, we present a simple shaping approach for ZTCs and their MOFs composite using a polymer of intrinsic microporosity (PIM-1). The intrinsic characteristics of the individual porous materials are transferred to the resulting composites leading to improved processability without adversely altering their porous nature. The surface area and hydrogen uptake capacity for the obtained shaped composites were found to be within the range of 1,054–2,433 m2g−1 and 1.22–1.87 H2 wt. %, respectively at 1 bar and 77 K. In summary, the synergistic performance of the obtained materials is comparative to their powder counterparts with additional complementing properties.
Highlights
The current state-of-the-art for hydrogen (H2) storage in fuel cell vehicles is compression at 700 bar of which the storage tank is heavy, expensive and can cause safety problems
Nanoporous materials need modifications in order to enhance other physical properties such as thermal conductivity that is required for fast heat dissipation and mechanical strength required for better handling
In our previous work (Molefe et al, 2019) we reported that upon increasing the metal organic frameworks (MOFs) loading in PIM-1/MIL-101(Cr) composites, the surface area, pore volume and H2 adsorption capacity increased significantly
Summary
The current state-of-the-art for hydrogen (H2) storage in fuel cell vehicles is compression at 700 bar of which the storage tank is heavy, expensive and can cause safety problems. Materials with high surface areas such as metal organic frameworks, carbons and porous polymers can store hydrogen through physisorption at safer low pressures and possess good reversibility as well as fast kinetics (Yang et al, 2011). The properties of these adsorbents must be improved to achieve high gravimetric and volumetric capacities at both low and ambient temperatures to become practically viable for their inclusion into an on-board H2 storage system. Nanoporous materials need modifications in order to enhance other physical properties such as thermal conductivity that is required for fast heat dissipation and mechanical strength required for better handling. These additional properties are crucial in practical applications
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