Synthesis of Mesoporous Carbon/Iron Carbide Material and Its Hydrogen Storage Capacity

Using 1-cyanomethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrachloridoferrate (III) as precursor and SBA-15 as template, the mesoporous iron carbide frameworks were synthesized by the hard template method, and the structure and morphology were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and N-2 adsorption-desorption isotherms. The influences of the synthesis temperature and calcination time on the material surface area were also investigated. The results showed that mesoporous carbide with large specific surface area was obtained under 800 C. Moreover, uniform pore size distribution and complete structure and specific surface (517. 96 m(2)/g) could be built with prolonging calcination time. Furthermore, hydrogen adsorption isotherm revealed that the material exhibited medium hydrogen storage capacity.