Synthesis of boron nitride nanotubes and its hydrogen uptake

Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNT) were synthesized by annealing ball-milled boron-nickel catalyst in nitrogen/hydrogen gas mixture at a temperature of 1025 °C. The BNNTs were characterized by TEM, XRD, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy. The pressure-composition isotherms (PCI) and temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) techniques were used to investigate the H2 uptake properties of BN nanotubes. The BNNTs show a reproducible room temperature hydrogen sorption of 1.8–2.2 wt% under 6 MPa.