Hydrogen Adsorption Study upon Ni/Al₂O₃ Nano-composite Synthesized by MOCVD Technique

The hydrogen adsorption (storage) studies upon Ni/Al₂O₃ nano-composite prepared by metal organic chemical vapor deposition technique (MOCVD) exploiting single source molec-ular precursor (SSP) approach were carried out. The Ni/Al₂O₃ nano-composite is prepared in cold walled MOCVD reactor by the decomposition of SSP, H₂Al(O^tBu)₂, on a substrate holding Ni(acac)₂ powder. The SSP is a reducing agent which reduces Ni⁺² to Ni⁰ and works as source for Al₂O₃ matrix in which the Ni⁰ is dispersed. The resulting Ni/Al₂O₃ nano-composite is characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, and EDX. The hydrogen adsorption (storage) studies are performed using home-made Sievert's type apparatus. The hydrogen storage studies reveal that approximately 2.9% (mass ratio) hydrogen can be stored in the Ni/Al₂O₃ nano-composite. The results show that Ni/Al₂O₃ nano-composite can be a po-tential candidate for hydrogen storage which can be used for onboard fuel purposes.