Synergistic effect of sub-5 nm Fe nanoparticles supported on nanoporous carbon for catalyzing hydrogen storage properties of Mg(BH4)2

Md A. Wahab*, Mohammad R. Karim, Fahad S. Al-Mubaddel, Ibrahim A. Alnaser, Geoffrey Will, Ahmed Abdala

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study investigates synergistic effects of sub-5 nm Fe nanoparticles (FeNPs) supported on mesoporous carbon (MC) for catalyzing hydrogen storage properties of Mg(BH4)2 (MBH). The study compares two methods for dispersing Fe NPs in MC: (i) ultrasonication nanoconfinement (un) and (ii) post-nanoconfinement (pn) via stir-ring. Based on the results, it is found that the ultrasonication nanoconfinement method can effectively disperse the FeNPs with 5 nm in MC support (FeNP-un-MC), later which can efficiently confine MBH (FeNP-un-MC@MBH system). The hydrogen (H2) desorption properties of the FeNP-un-MC@MBH system were found to be better than that of post-confinement-mediated FeNP-pn-MC@MBH system. For instance, H2 started to desorb from the FeNP-un-MC@MBH system at only 66 degrees C (Tonset) and reached its peak at-153 degrees C, compared to 270 degrees C (Tonset) and its peak-350 degrees C for pure MBH, respectively. The ultrasonication-mediated nanoconfined FeNP-un-MC@MBH system released a total of 7.01 wt% H2 within 90 min at 350 degrees C. The study shows that the activation energy (Ea) of FeNP-un-MC@MBH is 19.57 kJ/mol, achieved due to the improved dehydrogenation kinetics of MBH. These improvements are due to the synergistic effects of nano-compartmentalization and highly dispersed Fe NP catalyst sites in the MC support. The research emphasizes the promising application of ultrasonication-mediated nanoconfined Fe NPs in mesoporous carbon which can be used as an effective catalyst for enhancing the hydrogen storage properties of metal-based hydrides (MBH).
Original languageEnglish
Article number109206
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Energy Storage
Volume73
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Dec 2023
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Activation energy
  • Catalysis
  • Hydrogen storage
  • Iron oxide
  • Mesoporous carbon
  • Mg(BH4)2
  • Nanoconfinement
  • Nanoparticles
  • Synergistic effects

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