Development of polymer nanocomposites with sodium alanate for hydrogen storage

Abstract The development of materials based on polymer nanocomposites for hydrogen storage with lower temperature of desorption might contribute to the consolidation of the use of hydrogen as a sustainable energy. The purpose of this work was to develop hybrid porous materials consisting of polyaniline or sulfonated polyetherimide as polymer matrices and a potential hydride for hydrogen storage – sodium alanate. Multiwall carbon nanotubes and titanium dioxide were also added in order to improve the hydrogen absorption capacity of the sodium alanate. The nanocomposites were prepared via solution mixing and analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, transmission and scanning electron microscopy and kinetic of hydrogen sorption. The nanoparticles had some influence on the polymers structures, modifying its thermal properties, such as glass transition temperature and the onset temperature of degradation. Microscope analyses showed that not all the particles were always well dispersed and distributed through the matrices. However, kinetics of hydrogen sorption tests indicated a significant amount of hydrogen (up to 1.2 wt%) in the nanocomposites after 12 h at relatively low temperature (120 °C) and 32 bar.