Hydrogen Storage Properties of Graphitic Carbon Nitride Nanotube Synthesized by Mix-Grind Technique

Hydrogen has been touted as the fuel to potentially replace fossils; however, the bottleneck towards its acceptance is its storage and transportation in a manner considered practical and safe. For mobile applications, hydrogen has the potential to be used in fuel cell powered cars as a clean fuel; however, its realization rests on its efficient mode of storage. Presently, the technique of storing hydrogen in pressurized tanks at 700 bar has safety concerns. In this work, we report a mix-grind technique of synthesizing graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) nanotubes as hydrogen storage materials. The morphology, crystal structure, surface, and hydrogen storage properties of the samples were analyzed. Results showed that nanotubes of high specific surface area of about 114.21 m²/g can be produced. The measured hydrogen storage capacity of the nanotubes was around 0.67 wt.% at 37 bar, at room temperature. The hydrogen storage capacity is predicted to reach 3.3 wt.% at 100 bar pressure, at room temperature. This study provides a facile approach in producing large scale g-C₃N₄ nanotubes for applications such as hydrogen storage, photocatalysis, electrochemical systems, and metal free catalyst used to produce hydrogen via water splitting.