H₂ STORAGE IN MICROPOROUS MATERIALS: A COMPARISON BETWEEN ZEOLITES AND MOFS

One of the main concerns about a hydrogen-based energy economy is the efficient storage and transport of this highly flammable gas. Many strategies have been followed or suggested in recent years to solve this problem. The most important ones are: 1) storage in metals and alloys; 2) storage in complex hydrides (alanates, borides); 3) storage by trapping in clathrates (ice and others); 4) storage in microporous materials (carbons, zeolitic materials, metal-organic frameworks, polymers) In this work we have focused our attention on microporous materials, where the crucial point is the strength of the interaction between the molecular hydrogen and the internal surfaces of micropores and/ or of cages of entrapping materials. It is known from fundamental studies that H₂ strongly interacts with ions in the gas but that the presence of counterions decreases the interaction energy substantially. The most prominent class of microporous materials, which contains isolated and exposed cations, are zeolites and zeotypes: ideal systems to investigate the interaction of H₂ with both dispersive and electrostatic forces.
So, even if they are not sufficiently light to represent the final solution to H₂ storage, the availability of a large variety of frameworks and chemical compositions combined with low cost and superior mechanical and thermal stabilities increases the interest in these materials. In this work we have studied in detail, by means of volumetric and spectroscopic measurements, zeolites with CHA topology (as they are characterized by a strong acidity and by a big surface area). The results have been compared with those obtained for MOF-5, a well known Metal-Organic Framework, indicated as a very good material for molecular hydrogen storage.