Hydrogen storage of carbon materials by physisorption

Abstract

Nanomaterials have attracted great interest in recent years because of the unusual mechanical, electrical, electronic, optical, magnetic and surface properties. The high surface/volume ratio of these materials has significant implications with respect to energy storage. Both the high surface area and the opportunity for nanomaterial consolidation are key attributes of this new class of materials for hydrogen storage devices. Recent investigations have shown that nanoscale materials may offer advantages if certain physical and chemical effects related to the nanoscale can be used efficiently. The present review focuses the application of nanostructured materials for storing of hydrogen in different carbon materials by physisorption method. To market a hydrogen-fuel cell vehicle as competitively as the present internal combustion engine vehicles, there is a need for materials that can store a minimum of 6.5wt% of hydrogen. Carbon materials are being heavily investigated because of their promise to offer an economical solution to the challenge of safe storage of large hydrogen quantities. Hydrogen is important as a new source of energy for automotive applications. It is clear that the key challenge in developing this technology is hydrogen storage. Hydrogen is clean and renewable energy carrier and an Hydrogen energy system is expected to progressively replace fossil fuels in future. Due to compressed gas, containers in vehicles have less volume than the classic ones. A clear picture of the true capacity of nanotubes for hydrogen storage is still being developed by efforts in experiment and theory. Because CNT received directly after synthesis, generally, have closed caps, methods for chemical activation are required to achieve their full potential.