Development of a novel material for hydrogen storage

Abstract

Nanocomposites of polymer and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are fascinating and progressing area of hydrogen storage research. The dispersion of the CNTs in polymer matrices is an important issue while making the nanocomposites. In-situ polymerization is a better approach for synthesizing homogeneous polymer CNT composites. However, the dispersion of CNT in the monomer solution is still problematic. In this paper, we report a novel approach for dispersing multiwalled (MW) CNTs directly into polyaniline (PANI)/ ethyl alcohol solution and preparation of uniform composite of PANI/MWCNT with the aid of nickel catalyst. The possibility of the preparation of uniform PANI/CNT suspension retaining the structure of both PANI and CNT is successfully demonstrated for the first time.