Polylithiated (OLi2) functionalized graphane as a potential hydrogen storage material

Hydrogen storage capacity, stability, bonding mechanism and the electronic structure of polylithiated molecules (OLi2) functionalized graphane (CH) has been studied by means of first principle density functional theory (DFT). Molecular dynamics (MD) have confirmed the stability, while Bader charge analysis describe the bonding mechanism of OLi2 with CH. The binding energy of OLi2 on CH sheet has been found to be large enough to ensure its uniform distribution without any clustering. It has been found that each OLi2 unit can adsorb up to six H2 molecules resulting into a storage capacity of 12.90 wt% with adsorption energies within the range of practical H2 storage application.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. (submitted

Functionalization of graphane with alkali and alkaline-earth metals: An insulator-to-metallic transition

In view of interest in functionalized carbon nanostructures due to their potential applications in nanotechnology and nanoelectronics, we have performed a systematic and thorough density functional theory (DFT) study on the interaction of the elements in the first two groups of the periodic table with graphane (hydrogenated graphene) sheet. GGA approximation as employed in DFT has been used to study in detail the binding configuration, bond length, charge transfer and band gap of each of these adatoms doped graphane (CH) systems. To have a better understanding of the adatoms-CH interaction, different doping concentrations varying from 3.125% to 50% have been considered. A certain trend in binding strength, bond length and charge transfer has been found in the case of both alkali metal and alkaline-earth metal adatoms. In the case of alkali-metal adatoms at the low doping concentration of 3.125%, semiconductor behavior was found, whereas at doping higher than this the compound showed metallic behavior. In contrast, alkaline-earth metal-doped CH exhibited metallic behavior at all the doping concentrations