Hydrogen storage properties of carbons doped with ruthenium, platinum, and nickel nanoparticles

Hydrogen adsorption properties of two different high surface area carbon materials of templated carbon (TC) and superactivated carbon (AX-21) doped with three different metals (Ru, Pt, and Ni) have been studied. The equilibrium hydrogen storage capacities followed the order of Ru/C > Pt/C > Ni/C on both TC and AX-21. Ru doped on templated carbon (Ru/TC) showed a hydrogen storage capacity of 1.43 wt % at 298 K and 10.3 MPa. Furthermore, a thermal reduction method was applied to increase the contacts between the Ru metal particles and the carbon support, and in turn, to facilitate hydrogen spillover. The ruthenium-doped templated carbon by thermal reduction (Ru/TC-T) showed the highest hydrogen storage of 1.56 wt % at 298 K and 10.3 MPa, resulting in an enhancement factor of 2 compared with that of the undoped carbon. These experimental results were interpreted by using a simple mechanistic model for hydrogen spillover.