Hydrogen storage in spherical nanoporous carbons

We report H2 storage capacities up to 2.7 wt% at 77 K in spherical nanoporous carbons exhibiting periodic arrays of pores and surface areas between 946 and 1646 m2/g. The materials were produced via the pyrolysis of sucrose (C12H22O11) embedded inside a spherical form of MCM-48 at 1000 °C in an inert atmosphere. Our results open up new possibilities for producing carbon nanomaterials with large surface areas, which are able to store hydrogen with attractive yields.