Jeongwoon Hwang

Progress on first-principles-based materials design for hydrogen storage.

This article briefly summarizes the research activities in the field of hydrogen storage in sorbent materials and reports our recent works and future directions for the design of such materials. Distinct features of sorption-based hydrogen storage methods are described compared with metal hydrides and complex chemical hydrides. We classify the studies of hydrogen sorbent materials in terms of two key technical issues: (i) constructing stable framework structures with high porosity, and (ii) increasing the binding affinity of hydrogen molecules to surfaces beyond the usual van der Waals interaction. The recent development of reticular chemistry is summarized as a means for addressing the first issue. Theoretical studies focus mainly on the second issue and can be grouped into three classes according to the underlying interaction mechanism: electrostatic interactions based on alkaline cations, Kubas interactions with open transition metals, and orbital interactions involving Ca and other nontransitional metals. Hierarchical computational methods to enable the theoretical predictions are explained, from ab initio studies to molecular dynamics simulations using force field parameters. We also discuss the actual delivery amount of stored hydrogen, which depends on the charging and discharging conditions. The usefulness and practical significance of the hydrogen spillover mechanism in increasing the storage capacity are presented as well.

Energy Bandgap and Edge States in an Epitaxially Grown Graphene/h-BN Heterostructure.

Securing a semiconducting bandgap is essential for applying graphene layers in switching devices. Theoretical studies have suggested a created bulk bandgap in a graphene layer by introducing an asymmetry between the A and B sub-lattice sites. A recent transport measurement demonstrated the presence of a bandgap in a graphene layer where the asymmetry was introduced by placing a graphene layer on a hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) substrate. Similar bandgap has been observed in graphene layers on metal substrates by local probe measurements; however, this phenomenon has not been observed in graphene layers on a near-insulating substrate. Here, we present bulk bandgap-like features in a graphene layer epitaxially grown on an h-BN substrate using scanning tunneling spectroscopy. We observed edge states at zigzag edges, edge resonances at armchair edges, and bandgap-like features in the bulk.

Computational Evaluation of Amorphous Carbon Coating for Durable Silicon Anodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries

We investigate the structural, mechanical, and electronic properties of graphite-like amorphous carbon coating on bulky silicon to examine whether it can improve the durability of the silicon anodes of lithium-ion batteries using molecular dynamics simulations and ab-initio electronic structure calculations. Structural models of carbon coating are constructed using molecular dynamics simulations of atomic carbon deposition with low incident energies (1–16 eV). As the incident energy decreases, the ratio of sp2 carbons increases, that of sp3 decreases, and the carbon films become more porous. The films prepared with very low incident energy contain lithium-ion conducting channels. Also, those films are electrically conductive to supplement the poor conductivity of silicon and can restore their structure after large deformation to accommodate the volume change during the operations. As a result of this study, we suggest that graphite-like porous carbon coating on silicon will extend the lifetime of the silicon anodes of lithium-ion batteries.

HYDROGEN STORAGE ENHANCEMENT VIA TRANSITION METAL DECORATION ON METAL ORGANIC FRAMEWORKS: A FIRST-PRINCIPLES STUDY

We investigate the hydrogen storage capacity of the light transition metal (TM)-decorated metal organic frameworks (MOFs) by performing ab initio density functional theory calculations. We find that among all the light TM elements, divalent Ti and Fe are suitable for decorating MOFs to enhance the hydrogen uptake, considering the H2 binding energy on the TM atom and the reversibly usable number of H2 molecules attached to the metal site. In general, the magnetization of metal atoms undergoes a high-spin to low-spin state transition when H2 molecules are adsorbed, which helps to stabilize the system energetically. By analyzing the projected density of states on each TM atom, it is shown that the d-level shift induced by the ligand field of the adsorbed H2 molecules contributes substantially to the H2 binding strength. We also study the stability of selected TM-decorated nanostructures against the attack of foreign molecules by examining the energetics of those contaminating molecules around the metal sites.

Isosteric Heat of Potential Confinement in the Hydrogen Storage Material

In the hydrogen storage problem, if an attractive potential well is formed inside the void space of porous materials, the storage gas density is expected to increase significantly compared to the H2 gas density outside the material. Actually, the overall H2 density inside the material is enhanced basically by a Boltzmann factor of exp[−U/kT] where U (<0) is some averaged potential energy. Corresponding to this negative potential energy, latent heat is released in the H2 gas confinement process. We theoretically investigate the energetics involved during the H2 storage in the potential well and, from the equilibrium thermodynamic principles, we derive a formalism for the isosteric heat of potential confinement of the H2 gas. Since the gas density inside the potential well increases tremendously, the van der Waals equation is adopted to describe the nonideal gas behavior of H2. We compare our results to the well-known expression for the isosteric heat of adsorption where, unlike our case, the molecules are bound to specific adsorption sites in the material.