Investigation of room temperature hydrogen storage in biomass derived activated carbon

Overcoming the barrier of hydrogen storage is a promising avenue to a zero emission fuel economy. In the present study, we demonstrate that a balance between pore size, pore volume and large surface area of activated Carbon material helps in achieving increased hydrogen uptake at room temperature and moderate pressures. The activated carbon material, synthesized using a biomass precursor and the KOH activation process, furnishes a high surface area of ∼2090 m2/g and a pore volume of 1.44 cm3/g.The hydrogen adsorption studies exhibits a good hydrogen uptake capacity of ∼1.06 wt% at 15 bar equilibrium hydrogen pressure and 25 °C signifying that this activated carbon prepared using biomass Palimera sprout can be used for catalyst support material for enhancing the hydrogen uptake capacity by spill over mechanism.