A Comparative Density Functional Theory Study of Hydrogen Storage in Cellulose and Chitosan Functionalized by Transition Metals (Ti, Mg, and Nb)

The focus of this work is hydrogen storage in pristine cellulose, chitosan, and cellulose. Chitosan doped with magnesium, titanium, and niobium is analyzed using spin unrestricted plane-wave density functional theory implemented in the Dmol(3) module. The results of this study demonstrate that hydrogen interaction with pure cellulose and chitosan occurred in the gas phase, with an adsorption energy of [Formula: see text] = 0.095 eV and 0.090 eV for cellulose and chitosan, respectively. Additionally, their chemical stability was determined as [Formula: see text] = 4.63 eV and [Formula: see text] = 4.720 eV for pure cellulose and chitosan, respectively, by evaluating their band gap. Furthermore, the presence of magnesium, titanium, and niobium on cellulose and chitosan implied the transfer of an electron from metal to cellulose and chitosan. Moreover, our calculations predict that cellulose doped with niobium is the most favorable medium where 6H(2) molecules are stored compared with molecules stored in niobium-doped chitosan with T(max) = 818 K to release all H(2) molecules. Furthermore, our findings showed that titanium-doped cellulose has a storage capacity of five H(2) molecules, compared to a storage capacity of four H(2) molecules in titanium-doped chitosan. However, magnesium-doped cellulose and chitosan have insufficient hydrogen storage capacity, with only two H(2) molecules physisorbed in the gas phase. These results suggest that niobium-doped cellulose and chitosan may play a crucial role in the search for efficient and inexpensive hydrogen storage media.