Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 October 2011
An experimental study of hydrogen adsorption in a variety of high-surface area adsorbent materials has been conducted at room temperature and pressures up to 500 bar on high surface area activated carbons, zeolite templated carbons (ZTC), and metal organic frameworks (MOFs). For all materials, excess hydrogen adsorption isotherms were measured up to 500 bar and have been analyzed in terms of the BET surface area and pore size distribution. The materials were also evaluated for their increase in hydrogen storage density over compressed gas. It was determined that, due to the lower excess adsorption and skeletal densities for the microstructured materials, MOF-177 and ZTC have worse storage densities than compressed gas at most pressures, even when assuming a bed compaction factor of two, while the activated carbons offer marginal increases in storage density over the pressure range investigated.