In this study, we investigated the hydrogen storage behavior of MCM-41 that is a mesoporous material with high surface area and uniform pore size, which makes it a good candidate for gas adsorption applications. To improve the hydrogen storage capacity of MCM-41, the samples were loaded with Pd and Ni that are known with their affinities to hydrogen. MCM-41 samples were synthesized by microwave irradiation and metals were loaded before the samples were calcined. The effect of loading metals (Pd and Ni) and microwave power (90 and 120 W) to the structure of MCM-41 were investigated. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analyzer, BET analyzer, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The hydrogen storage capacities of the samples were measured by Intelligent Gravimetric Analyzer (IGA) at 298 K and up to 10 bar. The kinetics behavior and computational modeling of the hydrogen storage of MCM-41 were also investigated. It was seen that loading Pd and Ni to MCM-41 enhanced the hydrogen uptake of the material. The highest adsorption capacities were measured as 0.98, 1.34, 1.74 for Pd-Ni, Ni, and Pd loaded MCM-41, respectively. The textural properties of the samples were affected by the microwave power used during the synthesis. The kinetics investigation and the review of the experimental results with the findings of the computational studies were novel contributions to the literature
