A Study on Hydrogen Adsorption Using Different Nanostructured Materials

In the search for green energy alternative to replace gasoline in the future, hydrogen as a fuel has been proposed as an ideal energy source. Hydrogen has a higher chemical energy than hydrocarbon fuels. However, the storage of hydrogen is the main barrier to the further improvement of hydrogen technology. Nanostructures materials have received special attention as a great potential for hydrogen storage for their structures such as large surface area and theoretically high binding energy. The project is focusing on the study of hydrogen adsorption using nanostructured materials that are nanodiscs and nanocrystalline (hexagonal shape) hydrotalcite. The selected nanomaterials for this research are Boron Nitride nanodiscs and nanocrystalline hydrotalcite derived mixed oxides containing magnesium, cobalt, and aluminum. In addition, the structures of both nanomaterials are also monitored to investigate on how the differential structure could be related to the hydrogen uptakes. In this project, it is founded that hydrotalcite adsorbs more hydrogen (1.3wt%) than Boron Nitride nanodiscs (0.27wt%) because the hydrotalcite have more surface area, with less dense structure which allows more hydrogen uptake than BN nanodiscs.