Hydrogen adsorption on Na–SWCNT systems

Abstract

We investigate the hydrogen adsorption capacity of Na-coated carbon nanotubes (Na-SWCNTs) using first-principles electronic structure calculations at absolute temperature and pressure. A single Na atom is always found to occupy the hollow site of a hexagonal carbon ring in all the six different SWCNTs considered, with a nearly uniform Na–C bond length of 2.5 A. Semiconducting zigzag nanotubes, (8,0) and (5,0), show stronger binding energies for the Na atom (−2.1 eV and −2.6 eV respectively), as compared to metallic SWCNTs with armchair and chiral geometries. The single Na atom can further adsorb up to six hydrogen molecules with a relatively constant binding energy of −0.26 eV per H₂. Mulliken population analysis shows that positively charged Na atoms with 0.82e charge transfer to nearest carbon atoms which polarizes the SWCNT leading to local dipole moments. This charge-induced dipole interaction is responsible for the higher hydrogen uptake of Na-coated SWCNTs. The transition state search shows that the diffusion barrier of Na atom on the SWCNT between two adjoining C–C rings is 0.35 eV. We also investigate the clustering of Na atoms to find out the maximum weight percentage adsorption of H₂ molecules. At high Na coverage, we show that Na-coated SWCNTs can adsorb 9.2–11.28 wt% hydrogen. Our analysis shows that, although indeed Na-coated SWCNTs present potential materials for the hydrogen storage, care should be taken to avoid Na atoms clustering on the support material at elevated temperature and pressure, to achieve higher hydrogen capacity.