Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are considered to be the most promising material for a new sustainable and particularly in hydrogen storage, because SWCNT bundles have both internal and interstitial nanospaces that strongly interact even with supercritical H2.A SWCNT is essentially an interfacial material, being remarkably different from other solid materials in that all component carbon atoms are exposed to both surfaces, each with different nanoscale curvatures. A SWCNT has a huge geometrical surface area of 2630 m2 g−1, the same as graphene.Ordinary SWCNTs associate to form an ordered bundle structure through dispersion interaction, providing interstitial pore spaces surrounded by carbon walls with positive curvature, which have the strongest molecular sites. Therefore, bundled SWCNTs have considerable potential for application to gas storage, the stabilization of unstable molecules, quantum molecular sieving, specific reaction fields, gas sensing, electrochemical energy storage, and so on. In a recent report in Nanoletters, Reseachers from Japan have reported the simple preparation of fullerene (C60)-pillared SWCNT bundles by sonication of SWCNTs in a C60 toluene solution and the consequent enhancement of the supercritical H2 adsorptivity of the SWCNTs. As C60 molecules have a conjugated π-electron structure similar to that of SWCNTs, the C60-pillared SWCNT system can be regarded as a new nanocarbon.
.The H2 adsorption amounts on the C60-pillared SWCNT bundles doubly increased, compared with nontreated SWCNT bundles. TEM observation revealed that the C60-pillared SWCNT bundle had expanded hexagonal and distorted tetragonal arrays. These expanded interstitial nanospaces were also substantiated by a new XRD peak corresponding to the interlayer distances of SWCNTs in which C60 molecules were surrounded by three or four SWCNTs.
In summary, these new results indicate a simple and promising tuning route for SWCNT bundle structures, allowing the utilization of interstitial nanopore spaces for various fields, such as electrochemical, adsorption, sensor, and separation technologies.
paper can be found at Nano Lett., 2009, 9 (11), pp 3694–3698
In summary, these new results indicate a simple and promising tuning route for SWCNT bundle structures, allowing the utilization of interstitial nanopore spaces for various fields, such as electrochemical, adsorption, sensor, and separation technologies.
paper can be found at Nano Lett., 2009, 9 (11), pp 3694–3698
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