Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2020
Publication Title
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
Keywords
First principles density functional theory, boron nitride nanotubes, aluminum doping, hydrogen storage, partial density of states
Abstract
Hydrogen storage remains a largely unsolved problem facing the green energy revolution. One approach is physisorption on very high surface area materials incorporating metal atoms. Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are a promising material for this application as their behaviour is largely independent of the nanoscopic physical features providing a greater degree of tolerance in their synthesis. Aluminum doping has been shown to be a promising approach for carbon nanotubes but has been underexplored for BNNTs. Using first principles density functional theory, the energetics, electronics and structural impacts of aluminum adsorption to both zigzag and armchair polymorphs of BNNTs was investigated along with their potential capacity to adsorb hydrogen. The fine atomic structural and electronic details of these interactions is discussed. We predicted that in an ideal situation, highly aluminum-doped armchair and zigzag BNNTs could adsorb up to 9.4 and 8.6 weight percent hydrogen, well above the United States Department of Energy targets marking these as promising materials worthy of further study.
DOI
doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.02.053
Funding Reference Number
University of Zabol, UOZ-GR-9618-40; NSERC, 2018-06338
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Noura, Mehdi; Rahdar, Abbas; Taimoory, S. Maryamdokht; Hayward, John J.; Sadraei, S. Iraj; and Trant, John F.. (2020). A theoretical first principles computational investigation into the potential of aluminum-doped boron nitride nanotubes for hydrogen storage. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy.
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/chemistrybiochemistrypub/147