Screening Study of Different Carbon-Based Materials for Hydrogen Storage

Abstract

In this study, the hydrogen uptake of five carbon-based materials; graphite flakes (GF), graphene oxide (GO), graphene, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), activated carbon, mesoporous carbon and carbon microspheres (CMS) was explored. The characteristic techniques used to confirm the materials included Powder X-ray Diffraction (PXRD), Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR) Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Nitrogen adsorption isotherms, BET surface area and pore size distributions were measured at liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K). The hydrogen storage capacity was studied at constant temperature, 77 K and pressure from ambient pressure up to 1 bar. This study found that mesoporous carbon had the highest percentage of hydrogen uptake (18%), while activated carbon had the lowest percentage of hydrogen uptake (2%).