Hydrogen transport in single-walled carbon nanotubes encapsulated by palladium

Hydrogen transport and loading into single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) encapsulated by thin Pd layers onto a massive Pd substrate were studied using a complex of vacuum thermal desorption, cyclic voltammetry and ESR methods. By adding SWCNT the hydrogen capacity of the Pd–SWCNT composite under electrochemical loading increases as much as 25% relative to Palladium metal alone. This provides moderate growth in the gravimetric capacity of the total composite based on a massive Pd substrate. The hydrogen binding energy in the SWCNT (eH = 0.075 eV/H-atom), estimated by studies of hydrogen transport in the Pd–SWCNT composite was lower than predicted for the Pd–SWCNT complex, but higher than the physisorption on the bare SWCNT. Using ESR we established that the Pd–Cx e-complexes formed at the wall of nanotube could be considered as hydrogen adsorption site, providing both high net gravimetric capacity and low hydrogen binding energy in the Pd encapsulated SWCNT. The results obtained provide an opportunity to probe a condensed hydrogen phase of nanometer scale confined in SWCNT, encapsulated by transition metals.