Cu⁰-Loaded organo-montmorillonite with improved affinity towards hydrogen: an insight into matrix–metal and non-contact hydrogen–metal interactions

Abstract

Copper-loaded organo-montmorillonite showed improved affinity towards hydrogen under ambient conditions. Clay ion exchange with a propargyl-ended cation followed by thiol-yne coupling with thioglycerol resulted in a porous structure with a 6 fold higher specific surface area, which dramatically decreased after copper incorporation. X-ray diffraction and photoelectron spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance (H and C) and CO-thermal programmed desorption revealed strong sulfur:Cu and oxygen:Cu interactions. This was explained in terms of structure compaction that 'traps' Cu nanoparticles (CuNPs) and reduces their mobility. Transmission electron microscopy showed predominant 1.0-1.5 nm CuNPs. Hydrogen capture appears to involve predominantly physical interaction, since differential scanning calorimetry measurements gave low desorption heat and almost complete gas release between 20 °C and 75 °C. Possible hydrogen condensation within the compacted structure should hinder gas diffusion inside CuNPs and prevent chemisorption. These results allow safe hydrogen storage with easy gas release to be envisaged even at room temperature under vacuum. The reversible capture of hydrogen can be even more attractive when using natural inorganic supports and commercial plant-derived dendrimers judiciously functionalized, even at the expense of porosity.

Metal-inorganic-organic core–shell material as efficient matrices for CO2 adsorption: Synthesis, properties and kinetic studies

“…Cu 0 particle insertion induced marked decay of the specific surface area and average pore volume down to 20 m 2 /g and 0.12 nm, respectively, thereby confirming our previously stated structure compaction. This phenomenon is a special feature of the occurrence of -N:Metal and -O:Metal Lewis-Acid-Base (LAB) interactions, as already reported elsewhere [14,36,[40][41][42][43] .…”

A Novel Forming Method of Traditional Chinese Medicine Dispersible Tablets to Achieve Rapid Disintegration Based on the Powder Modification Principle

“…The powder was added to a hemisphere of the sample tube and placed in a Smart Prep065 pretreatment system with N 2 blowing to constant mass under heating at 200 °C. Next, the BET method was adopted to measure specific surface area and porosity and was tested at 55 points of each sample by TriStar 3000 automated surface area and porosity analyzer (Micromeritics Ltd., USA) 29 , 30 .…”

Dendrimers and hyper-branched polymers interacting with clays: fruitful associations for functional materials

“…105 Examples of attempted energy storage with hybrid clay materials have been illustrated in the previous paragraph (part 3.2), concerning the storage of hydrogen. [101][102][103] Diverse other examples related to energy storage concern the elaboration of batteries and of solar cells. A hyper-branched polyurethane (structure in Fig.…”

“…Low desorption heats were measured and almost complete release of H 2 was observed up to 80°C. 101 Hydrogen has been trapped also in montmorillonite incorporating HBPE and Cu and Pd nanoparticles. Hydrogen retention appears to involve mainly physical interactions as supported by easy gas release in the range 20-75°C.…”