An international multi-laboratory investigation of carbon-based hydrogen sorbent materials

New materials are needed to achieve the hydrogen storage targets set out by the US Department of Energy for fuel cell vehicular applications. In order to enable the pathway toward this discovery, precise and accurate characterization of the hydrogen storage performance of these materials is needed. Determining the precise and accurate hydrogen storage capacity of materials requires rigorous attention to detailed experimental parameters and methodology. Slight errors in even small experimental details can result in a large deviation in the determination of the material’s true characteristics. Here, we compare measurements of the gravimetric excess hydrogen uptake capacities for two different carbon sorbent materials measured by different laboratories at ambient and liquid N2 temperatures. The participants for this study consist of research laboratories led by experienced scientists in the hydrogen storage field. This collaborative evaluation of standard sorbents illustrated considerable reproducibility over a broad range of materials’ hydrogen sorption gravimetric capacities.