Preparation of activated rectangular polyaniline-based carbon tubes and their application in hydrogen adsorption

Porous materials, especially porous carbon materials, have the most potential as hydrogen adsorbents. In this research, a series of novel rectangular polyaniline tubes (RPTs) are synthesized using hollow carbon nanosphere (HCNS) templates. By changing mass ratios of ammonium persulfate to HCNSs, the sizes of RPTs can be controlled. Chemical activation with KOH gives rise to a large specific surface area (SSA), ranging from 1680 to 2415 m2 g−1, and big pore volumes that range from 1.274 to 1.550 cm3g−1. These observations demonstrate that activated rectangular polyaniline-based carbon tubes ARP-CTs are promising hydrogen adsorbents. Hydrogen uptake measurements show that the highest hydrogen adsorption reaches 5.2 wt% at 5 MPa/77 K and 0.62 wt% at 7.5 MPa/293 K respectively. Notably, the large pore volume can contribute 2.8 wt% to the total hydrogen storage which has approached 8.0 wt% at 5 MPa/77 K.

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► Hollow carbon spheres serves as templates to prepare rectangular polyaniline tubes (RPT).
► The morphology and size of RPT can be controlled.
► The largest specific surface area and pore volume of activation samples approach 2500 m2 g−1 and 1.550 cm3 g−1 respectively.
► The biggest hydrogen adsorption value reaches upto 5.2 wt% at 5 MPa/77 K and 0.62 wt% at 7.5 MPa/293 K.