文摘
The potential energy curve for the adsorption of a hydrogen molecule by a truncated hollow sphere consisting of carbon atoms was evaluated by using the Lennard–Jones function for the pair interaction between a carbon atom and a hydrogen molecule. The sphere surface was regarded as a continuum with a uniform density identical to that of a graphite layer. The lower limit of the potential was found to be ?00?meV when the sphere had a radius of 3.4?? and no opening. By increasing the radius of the opening to 2.9??, the energy barrier for an incoming molecule disappeared and the lower limit increased to ?50?meV, which is three times as deep as that observed for a graphite surface. The Langmuir isotherm for the truncated sphere of this size was evaluated based on the eigenvalues of the potential curve. We found that the pressure yielding a half occupancy was <50?bar at a temperature below 250?K. This indicates that a carbon pore with this shape and size can store a hydrogen molecule under mild conditions.