3e?‘‘ Transition metal decorated Ba€“Ca€“N composite nanostructures for efficient hydrogen storage: A first-principles study

摘要

Ti decorated BC_4N nanotube has been studied using first-principles density functional approach, to explore the storage of molecular hydrogen. It combines the advantages of carbon nanotube, together with the thermal stability of BN nanotube. The local structural unit of BN₃ and NB₃ linked with Ba€“N bonds are responsible for the extra stability of BC_4N nanotube as compared with CNT. While the host carbon nanotube is metallic, the substitutional doping of B and N with a large enough concentration (33%) turns it to semiconducting. Endohedral decoration, although energetically favourable, encounters a rather high barrier height of a??4 eV, as obtained from our nudge elastic band calculation of the minimum energy path. Exohedral Ti@BC₄N can bind up to four H2 molecules. For full Ti coverage, the system can absorb up to 5.6 wt% of hydrogen. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulation reveals that at 500 K hydrogen gets released in molecular form. We believe that this novel composite nanotube, functionalized by Ti atoms from outside, serves as a promising system for hydrogen storage.