Boron-Doped Carbon Nanospaces for High-Capacity Hydrogen Storage

The Alliance for Collaborative Research in Alternative Fuel Technology (ALL-CRAFT, http://all-craft.missouri.edu) has been optimizing high surface area [$>$3,000 m2/g] activated carbon nanospaces for high capacity hydrogen storage. Boron-doped samples have been produced using solid, liquid, and vapor phase boron doping. The boron-doped samples were analyzed using sub-critical nitrogen adsorption to determine surface areas and the effect that boron-doping and annealing, as a function of temperature, has on the microporous structure of the samples. Results will be presented for hydrogen storage capacity (excess adsorption) per unit area of boron-doped surface, and for hydrogen binding energies at 77 K and 293 K, as a function of boron concentration and annealing temperature. This material is based on work supported by the U.S. Department of Defense under Awards No. N00164-07-P-1306 and N00164-08-C-GS37.