Publication

Abstract : The present work is focused on designing an effective hydrogen storage material based on ionic liquids which are immobilized on graphene based carbon nanostructures. Our work demonstrates that there is a remarkably enhanced interaction between the immobilized ionic liquids and the graphene layer with the binding energy in the range of −90 to −50 kcal/mol, indicating the high stability of material. Secondly, this nanohybrid material is found to be interacting with hydrogen molecules very effectively, leading to the gravimetric density to be around 9 wt % along with binding energy per hydrogen molecule ∼ −3 kcal/mol. One of the main factors favoring the interactions is the electrostatics mediated ion-induced dipole interactions between the anion of the ionic liquids and the hydrogen molecules. The suitability of these materials for practical applicability as hydrogen storage materials has been discussed in detail and the results can offer a pathway toward the realization of these interesting materials with myriad of applications.