Insight into the Reversible Hydrogen Storage of Titanium-Decorated Boron-Doped C20 Fullerene: A Theoretical Prediction

Hydrogen storage has been a bottleneck factor for the application of hydrogen energy. Hydrogen storage capacity for titanium-decorated boron-doped C-20 fullerenes has been investigated using the density functional theory. Different boron-doped C(20 )fullerene absorbents are examined to avoid titanium atom clustering. According to our research, with three carbon atoms in the pentagonal ring replaced by boron atoms, the binding interaction between the Ti atom and C-20 fullerene is stronger than the cohesive energy of titanium. The calculated results revealed that one Ti atom can reversibly adsorb four H-2 molecules with an average adsorption energy of -1.52 eV and an average desorption temperature of 522.5 K. The stability of the best absorbent structure with a gravimetric density of 4.68 wt% has been confirmed by ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. These findings suggest that titanium-decorated boron-doped C-20 fullerenes could be considered as a potential candidate for hydrogen storage devices.