Abstract
Pores of molecular dimensions can adsorb large quantities of gases owing to the enhanced density of the adsorbed material inside the pores, a consequence of the attractive potential of the pore walls. Pederson and Broughton have suggested that carbon nanotubes, which have diameters of typically a few nanometres, should be able to draw up liquids by capillarity, and this effect has been seen forlow-surface-tension liquids in large-diameter, multi-walled nanotubes. Here we show that a gas can condense to high density inside narrow, single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs). Temperature-programmed desorption spectroscopy shows that hydrogen will condense inside SWNTs under conditions that do not induce adsorption within a standard mesoporous activated carbon. The very high hydrogen uptake in thesematerials suggests that they might be effective as a hydrogen-storage material for fuel-cell electric vehicles.
Original language | American English |
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Pages (from-to) | 377-379 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Nature |
Volume | 386 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1997 |
NREL Publication Number
- NREL/JA-450-23339