Experimental investigation on hydrogen storage in polymer based nanocomposite

In the present study, the hydrogen storage performance of SPEEK-h-BN nanocomposite membrane is investigated. The SPEEK-h-BN nanocomposite is prepared by using phase inversion technique. Hydrogen adsorption studies have been carried out for the membranes using a Seiverts-like hydrogenation setup. The synthesized membranes are characterized by 1H NMR, Raman spectroscopy, SEM, EDS, CHN-elemental analysis and TGA to analyze the membrane at various steps of experiments. It is observed that the SPEEK-h-BN nanocomposite membrane shows the enhanced performance compared to the pure SPEEK with a maximum storage capacity of 2.98 wt. % at 150 °C and the adsorbed hydrogen possess the average binding energy of 0.38 eV, while the pure SPEEK shows the storage capacity of 0.66 wt. % at 150 °C and the average binding energy of hydrogen of 0.36 eV. The TGA study shows the dehydrogenation of hydrogenated SPEEK-h-BN nanocomposite favors in the temperature range of 214 -218 °C.