Hydrogen Interaction with Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

Hydrogen interaction with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) was explored using an SWNT thin-film sensor and thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS). It was revealed that the adsorption of atomic hydrogen on SWNTs exhibits nonactivated and thermally activated adsorption states obeying first-order kinetics, in which the nonactivated adsorption is dominant. The subsequent desorption of hydrogen molecules was found to follow first-order kinetics with an activation energy of 1.7 eV. These results explain the theoretical prediction that the adsorbed H atoms are paired on the SWNT surface.