Molecular simulation of adsorption and diffusion of hydrogen in metal-organic frameworks

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are thought to be a set of promising hydrogen storage materials; however, little is known about the interactions between hydrogen molecules and pore walls as well as the diffusivities of hydrogen in MOFs. In this work, we performed a systematic molecular simulation study on the adsorption and diffusion of hydrogen in MOFs to provide insight into molecular-level details of the underlying mechanisms. This work shows that metal-oxygen clusters are preferential adsorption sites for hydrogen in MOFs, and the effect of the organic linkers becomes evident with increasing pressure. The hydrogen storage capacity of MOFs is similar to carbon nanotubes, which is higher than zeolites. Diffusion of hydrogen in MOFs is an activated process that is similar to diffusion in zeolites. The information derived in this work is useful to guide the future rational design and synthesis of tailored MOF materials with improved hydrogen adsorption capability.     

储氢研究进展

氢能是21世纪主要的新能源之一。作为一种新型的清洁能源,氢的廉价制取、安全高效储存与输送及规模应用是当今研究的重点课题,而氢的储存是氢能应用的关键。储氢材料能可逆地大量吸放氢,在氢的储存与输送过程中是一种重要载体。本文综述了目前所采用或正在研究的主要储氢材料与技术,如高压气态储氢、低温液态储氢、金属氢化物储氢、化学氢化物储氢、吸附储氢、金属有机骨架储氢等,比较了各种储氢的优缺点,并指出其相关发展趋势。     

含Co或Ni的双金属及三金属纳米颗粒制备方法及其催化制氢性能

常见的氢气储存方法有液态储氢、高压气态储氢、有机化合物储氢、金属氢化物储氢、吸附储氢及液相化学储氢材料储氢等,其中液相化学储氢材料由于具有含氢量高、且可按时即需释放氢气的优点,引起了研究人员的广泛关注;选择合适的催化剂催化液相储氢材料制氢已成为一个研究热点。含有Co或Ni的双金属或三金属纳米颗粒是一种极具应用前景的催化剂,具有价格低廉、储量丰富和催化性能优异等众多优点。本文综述了含Co或Ni的双金属或三金属纳米颗粒的制备方法及其催化制氢性能,并提出了其目前研究中存在的问题和未来潜在的发展方向。     

Hydrogen adsorption in defected carbon nanotubes

Recently there has been lot of interest in the development of hydrogen storage in various systems for the large-scale application of fuel cells, mobiles and for automotive uses. Hectic materials research is going on throughout the world with various adsorption mechanisms to increase the storage capacity. It was observed that physisorption proves to be an effective way for this purpose. Some of the materials in this race include graphite, zeolite, carbon fibers and nanotubes. Among all these, the versatile material carbon nanotube (CNT) has a number of favorable points like porous nature, high surface area, hollowness, high stability and light weight, which facilitate the hydrogen adsorption in both outer and inner portions. In this work we have considered armchair (5,5), zig zag (10,0) and chiral tubes (8,2) and (6,4) with and without structural defects to study the physisorption of hydrogen on the surface of carbon nanotubes using DFT calculations. For two different H₂ configurations, adsorption binding energies are estimated both for defect free and defected carbon nanotubes. We could observe larger adsorption energies for the configuration in which the hydrogen molecular axis perpendicular to the hexagonal carbon ring than for parallel to C–C bond configuration corresponding to the defect free nanotubes. For defected tubes the adsorption energies are calculated for various configurations such as molecular axis perpendicular to a defect site octagon and parallel to C–C bond of octagon and another case where the axis perpendicular to hexagon in defected tube. The adsorption binding energy values are compared with defect free case. The results are discussed in detail for hydrogen storage applications.     

Metal-organic frameworks—New materials for hydrogen storage

Published data on the physical sorption of hydrogen by new materials with a large specific surface area, crystalline microporous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), are systematized and analyzed. The hydrogen-accumulating properties of MOFs are compared with those of traditional materials (charcoals and zeolites) and nanocarbon systems. The role of secondary hydrogen spillover in the development of new approaches to increase the adsorption capacity of hydrogen storage materials is separately considered.     

Improving Hydrogen Adsorption Enthalpy Through Coordinatively Unsaturated Cobalt in Porous Polymers

The design and synthesis of a new porous organic polymer (POP) incorporated with cobalt carbonyl complexes through built‐in bipyridinic coordination sites for hydrogen storage are described. A thermal activation process was developed to remove the ligated carbonyl and carbon dioxide in order to expose the cobalt atomically inside of porous structure. Various spectroscopic and physical characterization techniques were used to study the coordinated Co sites and the POP's surface property. Upon thermal activation, this new cobalt‐containing POP showed improved hydrogen uptake capacity and isosteric heat of adsorption.     

新型掺杂多孔芳香骨架材料的储氢性能模拟

基于PAF-301分子模型通过Li掺杂或B取代等模式设计了几种新型多孔芳香骨架(PAFs)材料,采用量子力学和分子力学方法对新材料的储氢性能进行研究.由量子力学计算得到了不同分子片段与H2之间的结合能,并结合DDEC方法计算了各分子片段的原子电荷分布.利用巨正则蒙特卡洛(GCMC)模拟方法计算了77和298 K下H2在不同PAFs材料中的吸附平衡性质.结果表明,H2直接与苯环的结合能较低,但掺杂Li原子能够提高H2与六元环的结合能,同时Li原子体现出较高的正电性质,B原子取代苯环中的两个C原子后,使得原有C原子电负性增强;77 K下PAF-301Li具有最高的储氢性能,而PAF-C4B2H4-Li2-Si和PAF-C4B2H4-Li2-Ge体现出较好的常温储氢性能,各种材料的常温储氢性能远低于其低温储氢性能.通过77 K下H2在PAFs材料中的等位能面分布和吸附平衡质心密度分布对H2在PAFs材料中的优先吸附位置进行分析,发现在PAF-301和PAF-301Li骨架中,由于中心能量较低的等位能区域范围较宽,H2在其中存在四个明显的吸附高密度分布区域,而其它三种PAFs晶胞中心能量较低的等位能区域范围较窄,使得H2在其中只存在两个明显的吸附高密度分布区域.     

Liquid hydrogen in protonic chabazite

Due to its fully reversible nature, H(2) storage by molecular adsorption could represent an advantage with respect to dissociative processes, where kinetic effects during the charging and discharging processes are present. A drawback of this strategy is represented by the extremely weak interactions that require low temperature and high pressure. High surface area materials hosting polarizing sites can represent a viable way toward more favorable working conditions. Of these, in this contribution, we have studied hydrogen adsorption in a series of zeolites using volumetric techniques and infrared spectroscopy at 15 K. We have found that in H-SSZ-13 zeolite the cooperative role played by high surface area, internal wall topology, and presence of high binding energy sites (protons) allows hydrogen to densify inside the nanopores at favorable temperature and pressure conditions.     

Hydrogen storage in metal-organic frameworks by bridged hydrogen spillover

The possible utilization of hydrogen as the energy source for fuel-cell vehicles is limited by the lack of a viable hydrogen storage system. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) belong to a new class of microporous materials that have recently been shown to be potential candidates for hydrogen storage; however, no significant hydrogen storage capacity has been achieved in MOFs at ambient temperature. Here we report substantially increased hydrogen storage capacities of modified MOFs by using a simple technique that causes and facilitates hydrogen spillover. Thus, the storage of 4 wt % is achieved at room temperature and 100 atm for the modified IRMOF-8. The adsorption is reversible, and the rates are fast. That has made MOFs truly promising for hydrogen storage application.     

Hydrogen adsorption in transition metal carbon nano-structures

Templated microporous carbons were synthesized from metal impregnated zeolite Y templates. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) were employed to characterize morphology and structure of the generated carbon materials. The surface area, micro- and meso-pore volumes, as well as the pore size distribution of all the carbon materials were determined by N₂ adsorption at 77 K and correlated to their hydrogen storage capacity. All the hydrogen adsorption isotherms were Type 1 and reversible, indicating physisorption at 77 K. Most templated carbons show good hydrogen storage with the best sample Rh-C having surface area 1817 m²/g and micropore volume 1.04 cm³/g, achieving the highest as 8.8 mmol/g hydrogen storage capacity at 77 K, 1 bar. Comparison between activated carbons and synthesized templated carbons revealed that the hydrogen adsorption in the latter carbon samples occurs mainly by pore filling and smaller pores of sizes around 6 Å to 8 Å are filled initially, followed by larger micropores. Overall, hydrogen adsorption was found to be dependent on the micropore volume as well as the pore-size, larger micropore volumes showing higher hydrogen adsorption capacity.     

Adsorption of gases in metal organic materials: comparison of simulations and experiments

Molecular simulations using standard force fields have been carried out to model the adsorption of various light gases on a number of different metal organic framework-type materials. The results have been compared with the available experimental data to test the validity of the model potentials. We observe good agreement between simulations and experiments for a number of different cases and very poor agreement in other cases. Possible reasons for the discrepancy in simulated and measured isotherms are discussed. We predict hydrogen adsorption isotherms at 77 and 298 K in a number of different metal organic framework materials. The importance of quantum diffraction effects and framework charges on the adsorption of hydrogen at 77 K is discussed. Our calculations indicate that at room temperature none of the materials that we have tested is able to meet the requirements for on-board hydrogen storage for fuel cell vehicles. We have calculated the volume available in a given sorbent at a specified adsorption energy (density of states). We discuss how this density of states can be used to assess the effectiveness of a sorbent material for hydrogen storage.     

铁脂质体/水分配系数测定及影响因素考察

基于PAF-301分子模型通过Li 掺杂或B取代等模式设计了几种新型多孔芳香骨架(PAFs)材料, 采用量子力学和分子力学方法对新材料的储氢性能进行研究. 由量子力学计算得到了不同分子片段与H₂之间的结合能, 并结合DDEC方法计算了各分子片段的原子电荷分布. 利用巨正则蒙特卡洛(GCMC)模拟方法计算了77和298 K下H₂在不同PAFs材料中的吸附平衡性质. 结果表明, H₂直接与苯环的结合能较低, 但掺杂Li 原子能够提高H₂与六元环的结合能, 同时Li 原子体现出较高的正电性质, B原子取代苯环中的两个C原子后, 使得原有C原子电负性增强; 77 K下PAF-301Li 具有最高的储氢性能, 而PAF-C₄B₂H₄-Li₂-Si 和PAF-C₄B₂H₄-Li₂-Ge体现出较好的常温储氢性能, 各种材料的常温储氢性能远低于其低温储氢性能. 通过77 K下H₂在PAFs材料中的等位能面分布和吸附平衡质心密度分布对H₂在PAFs 材料中的优先吸附位置进行分析, 发现在PAF-301 和PAF-301Li 骨架中, 由于中心能量较低的等位能区域范围较宽, H₂在其中存在四个明显的吸附高密度分布区域, 而其它三种PAFs晶胞中心能量较低的等位能区域范围较窄, 使得H₂在其中只存在两个明显的吸附高密度分布区域.     

沸石吸附储氢研究进展

沸石类微孔材料作为储氢介质的研究已成为近年来储氢领域中备受关注的热点问题,但对于其储氢机理、储氢容量及其影响因素的文献报道不尽一致。本文从吸附实验测定和理论计算模拟方面综述了各种结构类型沸石的吸附储氢的研究结果。重点分析了沸石的结构类型、硅铝比、阳离子类型及吸附实验条件差异对储氢量的影响,并讨论了超临界吸附理论模型的发展状况,最后探讨了沸石作为储氢材料的可行性和发展方向。     

Zeolite-templated carbon materials for high-pressure hydrogen storage

Zeolite-templated carbon (ZTC) materials were synthesized, characterized, and evaluated as potential hydrogen storage materials between 77 and 298 K up to 30 MPa. Successful synthesis of high template fidelity ZTCs was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and nitrogen adsorption at 77 K; BET surface areas up to ~3600 m(2) g(-1) were achieved. Equilibrium hydrogen adsorption capacity in ZTCs is higher than all other materials studied, including superactivated carbon MSC-30. The ZTCs showed a maximum in Gibbs surface excess uptake of 28.6 mmol g(-1) (5.5 wt %) at 77 K, with hydrogen uptake capacity at 300 K linearly proportional to BET surface area: 2.3 mmol g(-1) (0.46 wt %) uptake per 1000 m(2) g(-1) at 30 MPa. This is the same trend as for other carbonaceous materials, implying that the nature of high-pressure adsorption in ZTCs is not unique despite their narrow microporosity and significantly lower skeletal densities. Isoexcess enthalpies of adsorption are calculated between 77 and 298 K and found to be 6.5-6.6 kJ mol(-1) in the Henry's law limit.     

碱土金属Mg外掺杂硼笼B40Mg6的储氢性能

对外掺杂碱土金属Mg的B₄₀硼笼的储氢性能进行了密度泛函理论研究. 结果表明, B₄₀笼含有2个六元环与4个七元环. 多个Mg原子对B₄₀笼进行外掺杂时不会发生成簇现象, 有利于进一步储氢. Mg原子外掺杂的B₄₀笼对H₂分子的平均吸附能介于物理吸附与化学吸附之间(0.1~0.8 eV). 体系的储氢密度达到7.60%(质量分数). 储氢结构能在常温常压下释放H₂分子, 因此, Mg原子外掺杂的B₄₀笼比Mg合金具有更好的储氢性能.     

Storage of hydrogen at 303 K in graphite slitlike pores from grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation

Grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations were used for the modeling of the hydrogen adsorption in idealized graphite slitlike pores. In all simulations, quantum effects were included through the Feynman and Hibbs second-order effective potential. The simulated surface excess isotherms of hydrogen were used for the determination of the total hydrogen storage, density of hydrogen in graphite slitlike pores, distribution of pore sizes and volumes, enthalpy of adsorption per mole, total surface area, total pore volume, and average pore size of pitch-based activated carbon fibers. Combining experimental results with simulations reveals that the density of hydrogen in graphite slitlike pores at 303 K does not exceed 0.014 g/cm(3), that is, 21% of the liquid-hydrogen density at the triple point. The optimal pore size for the storage of hydrogen at 303 K in the considered pore geometry depends on the pressure of storage. For lower storage pressures, p < 30MPa, the optimal pore width is equal to a 2.2 collision diameter of hydrogen (i.e., 0.65 nm), whereas, for p congruent with 50MPa, the pore width is equal to an approximately 7.2 collision diameter of hydrogen (i.e., 2.13 nm). For the wider pores, that is, the pore width exceeds a 7.2 collision diameter of hydrogen, the surface excess of hydrogen adsorption is constant. The importance of quantum effects is recognized in narrow graphite slitlike pores in the whole range of the hydrogen pressure as well as in wider ones at high pressures of bulk hydrogen. The enthalpies of adsorption per mole for the considered carbonaceous materials are practically constant with hydrogen loading and vary within the narrow range q(st) congruent with 7.28-7.85 kJ/mol. Our systematic study of hydrogen adsorption at 303 K in graphite slitlike pores gives deep insight into the timely problem of hydrogen storage as the most promising source of clean energy. The calculated maximum storage of hydrogen is equal to approximately 1.4 wt %, which is far from the United States Department of Energy (DOE) target (i.e., 6.5 wt %), thus concluding that the total storage amount of hydrogen obtained at 303 K in graphite slitlike pores of carbon fibers is not sufficient yet.     

Mg-based nanocomposites with high capacity and fast kinetics for hydrogen storage

Magnesium and its alloys have shown a great potential in effective hydrogen storage due to their advantages of high volumetric/gravimetric hydrogen storage capacity and low cost. However, the use of these materials in fuel cells for automotive applications at the present time is limited by high hydrogenation temperature and sluggish sorption kinetics. This paper presents the recent results of design and development of magnesium-based nanocomposites demonstrating the catalytic effects of carbon nanotubes and transition metals on hydrogen adsorption in these materials. The results are promising for the application of magnesium materials for hydrogen storage, with significantly reduced absorption temperatures and enhanced ab/desorption kinetics. High level Density Functional Theory calculations support the analysis of the hydrogenation mechanisms by revealing the detailed atomic and molecular interactions that underpin the catalytic roles of incorporated carbon and titanium, providing clear guidance for further design and development of such materials with better hydrogen storage properties.     

Hydrogen physisorption on the organic linker in metal organic frameworks: ab initio computational study

Research for materials offering efficient hydrogen storage and transport has recently received increased attention. Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) provide one promising group of materials where several recent advances were reported in this direction. In this computational study ab initio methods are employed to study the physisorption of hydrogen on conjugated systems. These systems are used as models for the organic linker within MOFs. Here, we focus on the adsorption sites related to the organic linker with special attention to the edge site, which was only recently reported to exist as the weakest adsorbing site in MOFs. We also investigate chemically modified models of the organic connector that result in enforcing this adsorption site. This may be crucial for improving the uptake properties of these materials to the goal defined by DOE for efficient hydrogen transport materials.     

Sc,Ti,V修饰B/N掺杂单缺陷石墨烯的储氢研究

3d过渡金属修饰是改善石墨烯储氢性能的最有效途径, 但仍存在金属团聚和H₂解离导致难以脱附的问题. 提出了B/N掺杂单缺陷石墨烯(BMG/NMG)的策略来避免以上两个问题. 密度泛函理论计算结果表明, N掺杂可以使Sc, Ti, V与石墨烯的结合能提高3~4倍, B掺杂可以将Sc与石墨烯的结合能提高3倍. Sc/BMG和Sc/NMG吸附的第一个H₂不会解离. Sc/BMG中Sc吸附5个H₂, 平均氢分子结合能为-0.18～-0.43 eV, 并且可以通过在同侧锚定多个Sc原子形成Sc/C₃B₂五元环增加H₂吸附位点. Sc/NMG中每个Sc吸附6个H₂, 平均氢分子结合能为-0.17～-0.29 eV, 还可以通过在异侧修饰形成Sc/N₃/Sc单元进一步提高储氢能力. 研究结果将为设计基于3d过渡金属修饰碳材料的储氢材料提供理论基础.     

超临界状态下炭基材料的储氢

评介了目前各种储氢方法，指出了炭基材料作为储氢材料的优势，综述了近年来纳米炭材料在储氢方面的进展，详细探讨了超临界状态下氢气在纳米孔隙中的吸附机理，并在此基础上提出了研究中的问题及进一步的研究方向。