Single-walled carbon nanohorns: Tunable media for hydrogen storage and metal nanoparticle decoration

I. Hu, Bin Zhao, Alexander Puretzky, David Styers-Barnett, Christopher Rouleau, David B. Geohegan, Yun Liu, Craig Brown, Dan Neumann, Houria Kabbour, Channing Ahn, John Zielinski, Charles Coe, Alan Cooper, Lin Simpson, Anne Dillon, Philip Parilla, Michael Heben, Alfred Kleinhammes, Yue Wu

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Single-Walled Carbon Nanohorns (SWNHs) are single-walled, cone-shaped carbon structures which form ball-shaped aggregates (∼ 50-100 nm in diameter). Here we report the effects of chemical and thermal processing treatments to adjust the surface area and tune the porosity of SWNHs for optimizing hydrogen storage. The SWNHs studied here were synthesized by laser ablation with tunable morphologies at varied laser pulse width. Post-processing by chemical and thermal treatments permits adjustment of the nanostructure as well as access to the inner empty space of SWNHs to achieve efficient hydrogen uptake. Two methods - the laser ablation of C/metal targets, and wet chemistry - have been used to decorate SWNHs with metal nanoparticles (Pt, Pd, etc). TEM and STEM images show that wet chemistry method gives more uniform decoration of Pt and Pd nanoparticles with sizes between 1-3 nm and 3-5nm, respectively. Both thermogravimetric and prompt gamma activation analysis demonstrate metal loadings of SWNHs/metal.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication233rd ACS National Meeting, Abstracts of Scientific Papers
StatePublished - 2007
Event233rd ACS National Meeting - Chicago, IL, United States
Duration: Mar 25 2007Mar 29 2007

Publication series

NameACS National Meeting Book of Abstracts
ISSN (Print)0065-7727

Conference

Conference233rd ACS National Meeting
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityChicago, IL
Period03/25/0703/29/07

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