Peat-Derived ZnCl(2)-Activated Ultramicroporous Carbon Materials for Hydrogen Adsorption

Highly microporous adsorbents have been under considerable scrutiny for efficient adsorptive storage of H(2). Of specific interest are sustainable, chemically activated, microporous carbon adsorbents, especially from renewable and organic precursor materials. In this article, six peat-derived microporous carbon materials were synthesized by chemical activation with ZnCl(2). N(2) and CO(2) gas adsorption data were measured and simultaneously fitted with the 2D-NLDFT-HS model. Thus, based on the obtained results, the use of a low ratio of ZnCl(2) for chemical activation of peat-derived carbon yields highly ultramicroporous carbons which are able to adsorb up to 83% of the maximal adsorbed amount of adsorbed H(2) already at 1 bar at 77 K. This is accompanied by the high ratio of micropores, 99%, even at high specific surface area of 1260 m(2) g(−1), exhibited by the peat-derived carbon activated at 973 K using a 1:2 ZnCl(2) to peat mass ratio. These results show the potential of using low concentrations of ZnCl(2) as an activating agent to synthesize highly ultramicroporous carbon materials with suitable pore characteristics for the efficient low-pressure adsorption of H(2).