Enhancement of hydrogen storage capacity in polyaniline-vanadium pentoxide nanocomposites

The high-pressure H2 sorption isotherms of polyaniline–vanadium pentoxide nanocomposites (PANI–VONC) have been performed at liquid nitrogen temperature. A large increment of hydrogen storage capacity occurs in PANI–VONC (∼1.8 wt%) in contrast to that in pristine vanadium pentoxide (∼0.2 wt%) and in non-treated polyaniline (∼0.2 wt%). It is considered that the reason for the enhancement of hydrogen storage in PANI–VONC is the intercalation of polyaniline (PANI) into the vanadium pentoxide layers. The intercalation of PANI decreases the interlayer distance from 1.1 nm between vanadium pentoxide layers to 0.72 nm between vanadium pentoxide layer and polyaniline layer.