Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

"Although hydrogen has been considered as a viable alternative fuel, the storage systems used to contain the hydrogen must be improved for large scale use. A variety of conceivable storage options exist ranging from compressed gas, cryogenic liquid, chemical solid state storage, and adsorptive surfaces. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) provide a potentially viable option for hydrogen storage applications as a high surface area, lightweight media for adsorptive storage, but do not efficiently store hydrogen at ambient temperatures. Metal hydrides, on the other hand, are able to store large weight percents of hydrogen in a chemical solid state, but generally have unfavorable kinetics for uptake and release that can be enhanced at the nanoscale. Palladium nanoparticles on a CNT substrate can induce hydrogen spillover into the interstitial layers of multi-walled CNTs when sufficiently damaged via sonochemical treatment. Bamboo-structured CNTs have a segmented structure that increases the surface: volume ratio of these interstitial layers and as such can increase the storage capacity. By adding a small amount of ruthenium to the deposition process, the formed nanoparticles were found to be smaller in average dimension and more narrowly distribution size leading to more surface area for spillover initiation. Pd/Ru deposited bamboo-structured CNTs with 5 wt% total metal loading including I % ruthenium with a 4-hour sonochemical treatment were found to have the best storage capacity of 0.56 wt% hydrogen at 300 K and 126 atm. This study examines the structure-property relationship as to the CNT' s potential capability as a hydrogen storage medium and elucidates the positive effects imparted by certain metal dopants deposited on the CNTs as well as the beneficial roles played by additional surface modification treatments such as sonochemical treatment"--Abstract, page iii.

Advisor(s)

Ludlow, Douglas K.

Committee Member(s)

Xing, Yangchuan
Lee, Sunggyu
Dogan, Fatih
Henthorn, Kimberly H.

Department(s)

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Degree Name

Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering

Sponsor(s)

General Motors Corporation

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Publication Date

Spring 2010

Pagination

ix, 87 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 84-86).

Rights

© 2010 Sean Charles Mickey, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Subject Headings

BambooHydrogen -- StorageNanotubes -- Carbon content

Thesis Number

T 9644

Print OCLC #

748672070

Electronic OCLC #

908940451

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