Review of hydrogen storage in inorganic fullerene-like nanotubes

Abstract

Following the discovery of carbon nanotubes, inorganic fullerene-like nanotubes such as WS2–MoS2, NbS2, TiS2, and BN were reported. Inorganic (non-carbon) nanotubes constitute an important class of nanomaterials with interesting properties and potential applications. As known, efficient hydrogen storage is one key problem in the development of a hydrogen energy system. Hydrogen storage using carbon nanostructures is scientifically interesting and challenging. It thus would be worthwhile to look into hydrogen storage in inorganic nanotubes because the van der Waals gaps between the nanotube layers are potential candidates for hydrogen uptake. Furthermore, the inorganic nanotubes combine two elements, which is different from the pure carbon nanotubes. These may show a novel hydrogen adsorption–desorption mechanism. The present review provides a brief study of hydrogen adsorption on MoS2, TiS2, and BN nanotubes.