For the commercialization of hydrogen energy, a technology enabling safe storage and the transport of large amounts of hydrogen is needed. Porous materials are attracting attention as hydrogen storage material; however, their gravimetric hydrogen storage capacity (GHSC) at room temperature (RT) is insufficient for actual use. In an effort to overcome this limitation, we present a N-doped microporous carbon that contains large proportion of micropores with diameters below 1 nm and small amounts of N elements imparted by the nitrogen plasma treatment. The N-doped microporous carbon exhibits the highest total GHSC (1.59 wt%) at RT, and we compare the hydrogen storage capacities of our sample with those of metal alloys, showing their advantages and disadvantages as hydrogen storage materials.

Effects of nitrogen plasma treatments on hydrogen storage capacity of microporous carbon at room temperature and its feasibility as a hydrogen storage material
    Abstract
        Graphical abstract
    1 Introduction
    2 Experimental procedure
        2.1 Synthesis of the N-doped MCs
        2.2 Material characterization and GHSC measurement
    3 Results and discussion
        3.1 Surface properties and atomic compositions of the MC and N-doped MCs
        3.2 Measurements of the excess GHSCs for the MC and N-doped MCs at RT and comparisons of their capacities with those of interstitial metal hydride
    4 Conclusion
    Anchor 12
    Acknowledgements 
    References

• Soon Hyeong So(Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151‑744, Republic of Korea)
• Seongmin Ha(Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Republic of Korea)
• Chung Gi Min(Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Republic of Korea)
• Young‑Seak Lee(Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Republic of Korea)
• Chong Rae Park(Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151‑744, Republic of Korea)