Nanoporous activated carbon cloth as a versatile material for hydrogen adsorption, selective gas separation and electrochemical energy storage

摘要

AbstractThe efficient storage of energy combined with a minimum carbon footprint is still considered one of the major challenges towards the transition to a progressive, sustainable and environmental friendly society on a global scale. The energy storage in pure chemical form using gas carriers with high heating values, including H2and CH4, as well as via electrochemical means using state-of-the-art devices, such as batteries or supercapacitors, are two of the most attractive alternatives for the combustion of finite, carbon-rich and environmentally harmful fossil fuels, such as diesel and gasoline. A few-step, reproducible and scalable method is presented in this study for the preparation of an ultra-microporous (average pore size around 0.6nm) activated carbon cloth (ACC) with large specific area (> 1200m2/g) and pore volume (~ 0.5cm3/g) upon combining chemical impregnation, carbonization and CO2activation of a low-cost cellulose-based polymeric fabric. The ACC material shows a versatile character towards three different applications, including H2storage via cryo-adsorption, separation of energy-dense CO2/CH4mixtures via selective adsorption and electrochemical energy storage using supercapacitor technology. Fully reversible H2uptake capacities in excess of 3.1wt% at 77K and ~ 72bar along with a significant heat of adsorption value of up to 8.4kJ/mol for low surface coverage have been found. Upon incorporation of low-pressure sorption dat