Regensburg 2000 – scientific programme
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SYNA: Carbon Nanotubes
SYNA XI: HV XI
SYNA XI.1: Invited Talk
Thursday, March 30, 2000, 18:30–19:00, H20
Carbon Nanotubes for Hydrogen Storage — •Andrea Quintel1, Viera Skakalova1, Siegmar Roth1, Marion Becher2, and Michael Hirscher2 — 1MPI f. Festkörperforschung, Stuttgart, Germany — 2MPI f. Metallforschung, Stuttgart, Germany
Hydrogen is regarded as one of the most important regenerative energy carriers of the future. A fundamental problem is storage of hydrogen. The technical conditions for a liquid gas or a high pressure tank are not very favorable for fuel cell cars. Metal hydride storage systems are heavy and expensive. An attractive alternative might be hydrogen storage in carbon nanotubes (CNT). Dillon et al. (1) and Ye et al. (2) succeeded in storing 10 weight % of H2 in single-walled CNT at low temperatures (80K). This storage capacity would be sufficient for a fuel cell automobile. But the energy balance is spoiled by the necessity of cooling the tank. Recently, Liu et al. (3) achieved comparable storage capacities at room temperature (RT) - though at a pressure of 10 MPa. Yet Chen et al. (4) could store up to 20wt % of H2 at RT (!) and ambient pressure (!) in multi-walled carbon nanotubes which were previously intercalated by Li or K. The present talk will report on a research project funded by the German Ministry of Technology (BMBF) with the goal of verifying or falsifying the results of the publications mentioned above.
(1) Dillon, A.C. et al. 1997, Nature 386, 377
(2) Ye, Y. et al. 1999, Appl. Phys. Lett. 74, 2307
(3) Liu, C. et al. 1999, Science 286, 1127
(4) Chen, P. et al. 1999, Science 285, 91.