Synthesis of high surface area silica gel templated carbon for hydrogen storage application

In this study silica gel templated carbons were synthesized by pyrolysis using furfuryl alcohol as carbon precursor. Effects of temperatures (650, 750 and 850 °C) and dwelling times (1, 2, 3 and 4 h) on physical properties of templated carbons were investigated. The synthesized templated carbons were studied for hydrogen uptake at atmospheric pressure and subzero temperatures (−50 and −100 °C). The surface area and pore structure of the templated carbons varied significantly with synthesis parameters. Templated carbon with highest surface area (1975 m2/g) and pore volume (3.07 ml/g) was obtained at pyrolysis temperature of 650 °C and 3 h dwelling time. For all synthesized carbons, 90–95% of the pores were in the range of 2–20 nm and 38–67% of the pores were in the range of 2–6 nm. Highest hydrogen uptake of 0.16 wt.% was observed at adsorption temperature of −100 °C for templated carbon synthesized at 650 °C and dwelling time of 3 h.