Tunable Low Density Palladium Nanowire Foams

TL;DR

This paper reports the fabrication of tunable low-density palladium nanowire foams with high surface area, demonstrating promising properties for hydrogen storage applications, including high capacity and rapid absorption rates.

Contribution

It introduces a novel fabrication method for palladium nanowire foams with adjustable density and exceptional surface area, advancing hydrogen storage technology.

Findings

High surface area to volume ratio of up to 1,540,000:1

Tunable density down to 0.1% of bulk palladium

Enhanced hydrogen absorption capacity and rate

Abstract

Nanostructured palladium foams offer exciting potential for applications in diverse fields such as catalyst, fuel cell, and particularly hydrogen storage technologies. We have fabricated palladium nanowire foams using a cross-linking and freeze-drying technique. These foams have a tunable density down to 0.1% of the bulk, and a surface area to volume ratio of up to 1,540,000:1. They exhibit highly attractive characteristics for hydrogen storage, in terms of loading capacity, rate of absorption and heat of absorption. The hydrogen absorption/desorption process is hysteretic in nature, accompanied by substantial lattice expansion/contraction as the foam converts between Pd and PdHx.