High-performances carbonaceous adsorbents for hydrogen storage

Activated carbons (ACs) with controlled microporosity have been prepared and their H2 storage performances have been tested in a gravimetric device. Such adsorbents are natural Chinese anthracites chemically activated with alkaline hydroxides, NaOH or KOH. Outstanding total storage capacities of hydrogen, as high as 6.6wt.% equivalent to excess capacity of 6.2 wt.%, have been obtained at 4MPa for some of these adsorbents. These values of hydrogen adsorption are among the best, if not the highest, ever published so far in the open literature. They are well above those of some commercial materials, e.g. Maxsorb-3, considered as a reference of high-performance adsorbent for hydrogen adsorption. Such exceptional storage capacities may be ascribed to a higher volume of micropores (< 2nm).