Investigation of Hydrogen Adsorption on Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes

We have investigated adsorption and desorption condition of atomic hydrogen on single-walled nanotubes (SWCNTs) using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) and thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS). The SWCNTs were made by the high pressure carbon monoxide (HiPCO) method. In our results, we observe from UPS data absorptive states reduce with increasing hydrogen doses and a new peak is developed near 8.6 eV and other points. But this peak is gradually diminished with pumping time. The TDS data show two characteristic peaks at 640 and 790K. By comparing with density functional calculations, we propose these peaks to be related to the presence of atomic hydrogen. Therefore, we can know that there are two adsorption sites on SWCNTs. Also we observed physisorption and chemisorption site by pumping time. We note that the UPS data are fully recoverable after hydrogen desorption at 1200K.