Improved hydrogen adsorption of 5A molecular sieves by enhancing its thermal conductivity

Understanding the hydrogen adsorption of porous materials is crucial to the design of high-efficiency hydrogen isotope separation materials. Much importance has been attached to tailoring the structures of materials, while the thermal management during the adsorption is often ignored. Here, we have experimentally found that the hydrogen adsorption capacity of a 5A molecular sieve (5A) is improved by enhancing its thermal conductivity. It can be facilely achieved by constructing rich and firm thermally conductive networks by filling graphite. 5A with 30 wt. % graphite shows a high thermal conductivity of 0.97 W m(-1) K-1 and a fast thermal response. Notably, it also displays an enhancement of 15.6 ml/g normalized hydrogen adsorption capacity compared to the neat 5A. This indicates that there is a close relationship between thermal conductivity and hydrogen adsorption. The above demonstrations show that thermal management plays a significant role in hydrogen adsorption and should be seriously considered for designing the materials of hydrogen isotope separation. Published by AIP Publishing.