(460d) Graphene As a Catalyst/Support for Hydrogenation/Hydrogen Storage

Recently our group found that graphene had a unique ability to dissociate hydrogen, and that this dissociation led to an increase in storage capacity (Wang, Stuckert and Yang, 2010).  In this work, the same graphene is analyzed in order to characterize the hydrogen dissociation and recombination ability.  A hydrogen isotope scrambling experiment was run for all different conditions of temperature and pressure.  Isotherms were measured precisely across different temperatures (0, 30, 60 °C) up to 100 atm.  The results encompass the complete characterization of the dissociation and recombination catalysis.  The elementary steps are shown and solved.  The rate limiting steps are isolated and the activation energies determined (through characterization from 0-80 °C). The effect of pressure (varied from 10-400 psi) is demonstrated as well.  These results are intended to provide the information necessary to determine the potential applications of graphene in hydrogenation and dehydrogenation catalysis.  Additional new results will be presented as well.