Influence of Surface Chemistry on Dehydrogenation in Carbon Cryogel Ammonia Borane Nanocomposites

This paper reports the synthesis and characterization of boron- and nitrogen-modified carbon cryogel (CC) ammonia borane (AB) nanocomposites (BNCC-AB) for hydrogen storage, Resorcinol-formaldehyde. (RF) derived CCs were modified by homogeneous dispersion of AB in RF hydrogel prior to pyrolysis. Nanocomposites were. fabricated by immersing CC in the AB solution. Nitrogen sorption analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry at multiple beating rates were used to study the structure and dehydrogenation properties of the nanocomposites. The results demonstrated lower dehydrogenation temperatures and reduced activation energies for AB when confined inside pores of B- and N-modified CCs relative to AB when confined in the unmodified CC with the same pore size. ((C) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2009)