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Charge Modulation in Graphitic Carbon Nitride as a Switchable Approach to High‐Capacity Hydrogen Storage
Author(s) -
Tan Xin,
Kou Liangzhi,
Tahini Hassan A.,
Smith Sean C.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.201501082
Subject(s) - hydrogen storage , graphitic carbon nitride , hydrogen , materials science , carbon fibers , nitride , energy storage , nanotechnology , adsorption , electron , carbon nitride , chemical engineering , catalysis , chemistry , composite number , organic chemistry , photocatalysis , composite material , physics , layer (electronics) , power (physics) , quantum mechanics , engineering
Electrical charging of graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets (g‐C 4 N 3 and g‐C 3 N 4 ) is proposed as a strategy for high‐capacity and electrocatalytically switchable hydrogen storage. Using first‐principle calculations, we found that the adsorption energy of H 2 molecules on graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets is dramatically enhanced by injecting extra electrons into the adsorbent. At full hydrogen coverage, the negatively charged graphitic carbon nitride achieves storage capacities up to 6–7 wt %. In contrast to other hydrogen storage approaches, the storage/release occurs spontaneously once extra electrons are introduced or removed, and these processes can be simply controlled by switching on/off the charging voltage. Therefore, this approach promises both facile reversibility and tunable kinetics without the need of specific catalysts. Importantly, g‐C 4 N 3 has good electrical conductivity and high electron mobility, which can be a very good candidate for electron injection/release. These predictions may prove to be instrumental in searching for a new class of high‐capacity hydrogen storage materials.