Carbon nanostructures for hydrogen storage

This thesis is focused on synthesis, characterization and physical study of new carbon based materials (fullerides and graphenes) for the storage of hydrogen and it has been carried out at the Carbon Nanostructures Laboratory (CNL) of the Department of Physics and Earth Sciences at the University of Parma under the supervision of Prof. Mauro Riccò. The aims of this study are the synthesis and optimization of these materials, the improvement of their storage properties and the understanding of the mechanisms and the specific interaction between hydrogen atoms and metal decorated graphene and alkali cluster intercalated fullerides. This study starts from preliminary results published in the last few years by my research group and it is part of a comprehensive approach to the use of carbon nanostructures for hydrogen storage, as developed in the CNL group. It has to be placed in the context of a growing demand of renewable fuels such as hydrogen, identified as a possible replacement to the current gasoline for automotive application. In this domain, considerable interest is stimulated by the carbon nanostructures for their relatively low weight and the possibility to modify the interaction energy with the hydrogen molecule.