Exploring yttrium doped C$_{24}$ fullerene as a high-capacity reversible hydrogen storage material: DFT investigations

Abstract

By employing the state-of-the-art density functional theory, we report the hydrogen storage capability of yttrium decorated C$_{24}$ fullerene. Single Y atom attached on C$_{24}$ fullerene can reversibly adsorb a maximum number of 6 H$_2$ molecules with average adsorption energy -0.37 eV and average desorption temperature 477 K, suitable for fuel cell applications. The gravimetric weight content of hydrogen is 8.84 %, which exceeds the target value of 6.5 wt % H by the department of energy (DoE) of the United States. Y atom is strongly bonded to C$_{24}$ fullerene with a binding energy of -3.4 eV due to a charge transfer from Y-4d and Y-5s orbitals to the C-2p orbitals of C$_{24}$ fullerene. The interaction of H$_2$ molecules with the Y atom is due to the Kubas type interaction involving a charge donation from the metal d orbital to H 1s orbital, and back donation causing slight elongation of H-H bond length. The stability of the system at the highest desorption temperature is confirmed by ab-initio molecular dynamics simulations, and the metal-metal clustering formation has been investigated by computing the diffusion energy barrier for the movement of Y atoms. We have corrected all the calculated energies for the van der Waals (vdW) interactions by applying the dispersion energy corrections, in addition to the contribution of the GGA exchange-correlation functional. The C$_{24}$+Y system is stable at room temperature, and at the highest desorption temperature, the presence of a sufficient diffusion energy barrier prevents metal-metal clustering. Furthermore, binding energies of H$_2$ are within the target value by DoE (-0.2-0.7 eV/H$_2$ ), while H$_2$ uptake (8.84 % H) is higher than DoE's criteria. Therefore, we propose that Y decorated C$_{24}$ fullerene can be tailored as a practically viable potential hydrogen storage candidate.