Nanovalved Adsorbents for CH4 Storage

Song, Z., Nambo, A., Tate, K. L., Bao, A., Zhu, M., Jasinski, J. B., ... Yu, M. (2016). Nanovalved Adsorbents for CH4 Storage. Nano Letters, 16(5), 3309-3313. DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b00919

A novel concept of utilizing nanoporous coatings as effective nanovalves on microporous adsorbents was developed for high capacity natural gas storage at low storage pressure. The work reported here for the first time presents the concept of nanovalved adsorbents capable of sealing high pressure CH4 inside the adsorbents and storing it at low pressure. Traditional natural gas storage tanks are thick and heavy, which makes them expensive to manufacture and highly energy-consuming to carry around. Our design uses unique adsorbent pellets with nanoscale pores surrounded by a coating that functions as a valve to help manage the pressure of the gas and facilitate more efficient storage and transportation. We expect this new concept will result in a lighter, more affordable product with increased storage capacity. The nanovalved adsorbent concept demonstrated here can be potentially extended for the storage of other important gas molecules targeted for diverse relevant functional applications.