Hydrogen storage in single walled carbon nanotubes

Claims have emerged recently, of high hydrogen storage capacities at room temperature and above, for carbons such as single-wall and multi-walled nanotubes. We have been unable to verify any claims of high capacities at room temperature and low pressure. For (10,10) single wall carbon nanotubes, we used a computer controlled Sievert's apparatus to measure an adsorption at RT of 0.07 wt% gravimetric density at 1 bar, typical of what is expected on the basis of BET surface area measurements for carbons. At high pressures of > 60 bar and temperatures of 80K gravimetric densities up to ∼ 8 wt% are obtained, but more typically ∼ 7 wt% after a few adsorption desorption cycles. These values and isotherm shapes can be attributed to rearrangement of the rope structure that is formed by condensed nanotubes. Certain fullerites can also exhibit adsorption/desorption cycle dependent capacity, ranging from 2.5 to 4 wt% at 80K and 120 bar. (author)