Browsing by Author "Pargai Neema"

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In-situ copper and nickel incorporation in carbon aerogels for efficient hydrogen storage
(Elsevier Ltd, 2025) Pargai Neema; Ashish Bhatnagar; Satish Kumar Verma; Mohammad Abu Shaz
Transition metal-doped carbon aerogels are emerging as promising materials for hydrogen storage due to their adjustable porosity, enhanced chemical functionality, and high specific surface area. In this study, we have synthesized copper and nickel-doped carbon aerogels by in-situ doping, utilizing copper nitrate and nickel nitrate as dopants during the polymerization of resorcinol and formaldehyde using triethylamine to aid the polymerization. The synthesized pristine and chemically activated doped carbon aerogels exhibited specific surface areas of 452 m2/g and 1200 m2/g, respectively. They demonstrated hydrogen storage up to 4.93 wt% and 5.94 wt% under 22 atm pressure at liquid nitrogen temperature, respectively. The study also reveals that increasing specific surface area does not necessarily guarantee proportional increases in hydrogen uptake. Based on electron microscopy and XPS studies, it can be concluded that the balance between specific surface area, pore size distribution, and chemical functionality is critical for optimizing hydrogen storage. © 2025 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC
Physically activated resorcinol-formaldehyde derived carbon aerogels for enhanced hydrogen storage
(Elsevier Ltd, 2025) Pargai Neema; Satish Kumar Verma; Mohammad Abu Shaz
Carbon aerogels have great potential as hydrogen storage materials owing to their exceptional specific surface area, low weight, and high porosity. These characteristics improve the ability to increase hydrogen adsorption capacity, making them promising candidates for hydrogen storage materials. Nevertheless, the implementation encounters obstacles such as limited storage capacity under ambient temperature and pressure. The present study reports the improved hydrogen storage capacity of carbon aerogels synthesized by Pekala's sol-gel method and optimized by physical activation. This study aims to optimize specific surface area and micropore volumes by physical activation to enhance hydrogen adsorption via the physisorption mechanism. The as-synthesized carbon aerogel has a specific surface area of 579.53 m2/g with a pore volume of 0.34 cm3/g whereas this surface area and pore volume have been tuned using its physical activation. The physically activated carbon aerogel shows a significantly higher specific surface area of 799.68 m2/g with a pore volume of 0.47 cm3/g as compared to the pristine carbon aerogel. This optimization in the specific surface area has enhanced the hydrogen storage capacity of carbon aerogel. The activated carbon aerogel exhibits a promising hydrogen storage capacity of 5.28 wt% at liquid nitrogen temperature under a hydrogen pressure of 22 atm whereas 3.39 wt% of hydrogen storage capacity has been seen in the unactivated carbon aerogel under the same conditions. In addition, activated carbon aerogel showed good hydrogen adsorption and desorption kinetics up to 30 cycles at room temperature (27 °C) under 22 atm hydrogen pressure. The reason behind enhanced hydrogen adsorption capacity in activated carbon aerogel has been put forward using various characterization techniques like XRD, TEM, SEM, and BET and discussed in the mechanism section. © 2024 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC
Physically activated resorcinol-formaldehyde derived carbon aerogels for enhanced hydrogen storage
(Elsevier Ltd, 2024) Pargai Neema; Satish Kumar Verma; Mohammad Abu Shaz
Carbon aerogels have great potential as hydrogen storage materials owing to their exceptional specific surface area, low weight, and high porosity. These characteristics improve the ability to increase hydrogen adsorption capacity, making them promising candidates for hydrogen storage materials. Nevertheless, the implementation encounters obstacles such as limited storage capacity under ambient temperature and pressure. The present study reports the improved hydrogen storage capacity of carbon aerogels synthesized by Pekala's sol-gel method and optimized by physical activation. This study aims to optimize specific surface area and micropore volumes by physical activation to enhance hydrogen adsorption via the physisorption mechanism. The as-synthesized carbon aerogel has a specific surface area of 579.53 m2/g with a pore volume of 0.34 cm3/g whereas this surface area and pore volume have been tuned using its physical activation. The physically activated carbon aerogel shows a significantly higher specific surface area of 799.68 m2/g with a pore volume of 0.47 cm3/g as compared to the pristine carbon aerogel. This optimization in the specific surface area has enhanced the hydrogen storage capacity of carbon aerogel. The activated carbon aerogel exhibits a promising hydrogen storage capacity of 5.28 wt% at liquid nitrogen temperature under a hydrogen pressure of 22 atm whereas 3.39 wt% of hydrogen storage capacity has been seen in the unactivated carbon aerogel under the same conditions. In addition, activated carbon aerogel showed good hydrogen adsorption and desorption kinetics up to 30 cycles at room temperature (27 °C) under 22 atm hydrogen pressure. The reason behind enhanced hydrogen adsorption capacity in activated carbon aerogel has been put forward using various characterization techniques like XRD, TEM, SEM, and BET and discussed in the mechanism section. © 2024 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC