Nanoporous polymer-derived activated carbon for hydrogen adsorption and electrochemical energy storage

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Christos Tampaxis
  • Georgia Charalambopoulou
  • Theodore Steriotis
  • Claus Rebholz

External Organisational units

  • National Center for Scientific Research Demokritos, Agia Paraskevi Attikis
  • Research Unit for Nanostructured Materials Systems, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Cyprus University of Technology

Abstract

The development and in-depth characterization of multifunctional materials with versatile use in energy and environmental applications has been a topic of on-going investigations. In this work, a nanoporous polymer-/polyaniline-derived activated carbon (PDAC), with large surface area (~2200 m 2/g) and large pore volume (~1 cm 3/g), was thoroughly studied towards its applicability for H 2 storage and supercapacitor energy storage. The PDAC demonstrated a superior H 2 adsorption performance under cryogenic conditions, reaching a high and fully reversible excess gravimetric H 2 uptake of ~5.5 wt% at 77 K and ~60 bar, along with a ~8.3 kJ/mol heat of adsorption at zero coverage. Furthermore, thin PDAC electrodes with an aqueous CsCl electrolyte were combined in a supercapacitor cell that exhibited a gravimetric capacitance of ~130 F/g for a 0.5 mV/s scanning rate along with a 99% coulombic efficiency and a 100% capacitance retention after 2500 charge/discharge cycles. The PDAC material showed substantially improved H 2 and electrochemical energy storage performance compared to a well-established commercial activated carbon, which is attributed to the overall smaller pore sizes of the PDAC structure.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number131730
Number of pages10
JournalChemical Engineering Journal
Volume427.2021
Issue number1 January
Early online date8 Aug 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2022