ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Investigating the Hydrogen Physisorption Mechanism in Copper-Impregnated Biomass Derived Porous Carbon via Inelastic Neutron Scattering

Abstract: Efficient and safe hydrogen storage is a critical challenge for the wider adoption of hydrogen as a clean energy carrier. Porous carbon is a promising class of sustainable hydrogen storage materials due to their high surface area, scalability, and low cost. We are currently studying a one-step activation method using transition metal templates as a sustainable strategy for synthesizing large-scale porous carbon from biomass for hydrogen storage applications. Our preliminary findings on a custom-synthesized biomass derived porous carbon (PC) show a significant enhancement in hydrogen uptake and overall porosity upon impregnation with copper nanoparticles (Cu-NP/PC) compared to the control carbon (PC-control) without the nanoparticles. The observed increase in hydrogen storage capacity in Cu-NP/PC cannot be solely explained by the bulk material properties and suggests a strong, localized host-guest interaction. We hypothesize that the exposed copper nanoparticles, possibly acting as weak binding sites, through Kubas-type interactions, enhance the binding energy, leading to the higher hydrogen uptake. INS will allow us to directly probe the rotational and vibrational dynamics of adsorbed H2 molecules within the porous structure and distinguish between H2-carbon wall interactions and H2-copper site interactions, providing the fundamental insight necessary for the rational design of advanced porous materials with optimized hydrogen storage capacities.

Principal Investigator: Dr Sanjit Nayak
Experimenter: Mrs Sneha Suresh
Local Contact: Dr Svemir Rudic
Experimenter: Professor Valeska Ting
Experimenter: Dr Jemma Rowlandson
Experimenter: Miss Lila Mahmoud
Experimenter: Dr Andrew McCluskey

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2610248

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2610248

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
Select the data format above to find out more about it.

Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Sanjit Nayak et al; (2026): Investigating the Hydrogen Physisorption Mechanism in Copper-Impregnated Biomass Derived Porous Carbon via Inelastic Neutron Scattering, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2610248

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.