Hydrogen storage in rippled graphene: perspectives from multi-scale simulations

TL;DR

This paper investigates hydrogen storage in rippled graphene using multi-scale simulations, aiming to improve safety and efficiency of hydrogen storage for green energy applications.

Contribution

It presents a novel multi-scale simulation approach to analyze hydrogen storage capabilities in rippled graphene structures, offering new insights into their potential for safe, efficient energy storage.

Findings

Rippled graphene can enhance hydrogen adsorption capacity.

Structural ripples influence hydrogen binding energies.

Potential for improved hydrogen storage stability.

Abstract

Exploring new perspectives for green technologies is one of the challenges of the third millennium, in which the need for non-polluting and renewable powering has become primary. In this context, the use of hydrogen as a fuel is promising, since the energy released in its oxidation (~285 kJ/mole) is three times that released, on average, by hydrocarbons, and the combustion product is water (Ramage, 1983). Being hydrogen a vector of chemical energy, efficient conservation and non-dispersive transportation are the main goals. Three issues must be considered to this respect: (i) storage capacity (ii) storage stability (iii) kinetics of loading/release. Commercial technologies are currently based on cryo-compression or liquefaction of H2 in tanks. These ensure quite a high gravimetric density (GD, point (i)), namely 8-13% in weight of stored hydrogen, and a relatively low cost (Z\"uttel 2003). However concerning points (ii) and (iii), these technologies pose problems of safety, mainly due to explosive flammability of hydrogen, and consequent unpractical conditions for transportation and use (Mori et al 2009). Therefore, research efforts are directed towards solid-state based storage systems (energy.gov, Bonaccorso et al 2015).