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Natural gas storage on silicon, carbon, and silicon carbide nanotubes: a combined quantum mechanics and grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation study

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Abstract

Grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulation combined with ab initio quantum mechanics calculations were employed to study methane storage in homogeneous armchair open-ended single-walled silicon nanotubes (SWSiNTs), single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), and single-walled silicon carbide nanotubes (SWSiCNTs) in triangular arrays. Two different groups of nanotubes were studied: the first were (12,12) SiNTs, (19,19) CNTs, and (15,15) SiCNTs and the second were (7,7) SiNTs, (11,11) CNTs, and (9,9) SiCNTs with the diameters of 26 and 15 Å for the first and second groups, respectively. The simulations were carried out at different thermodynamic states. The potential energy functions were calculated using ab initio quantum mechanics and then fitted with (12,6) Lennard–Jones potential model as a bridge between first-principles calculations and GCMC simulations. The absolute, excess, and delivery adsorption isotherms of methane were calculated for two groups of nanotubes. The specific surface area and the isosteric heat of adsorption were computed. The radial distribution functions for the adsorbed molecules on different nanotubes were also calculated. Different isotherm models were fitted with the simulation adsorption data. According to the results, the excess uptake value of methane adsorption in (11,11) CNT array exceeded the US Department of Energy target (180 V/V at 298 K and 35 bar). The results also indicate that SiNTs and SiCNTs are not desirable materials compared with corresponding CNTs for natural gas storage.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the support of this research by Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (Grant No. 3/18509).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, 91779, Mashhad, Iran

    Sayyed Jalil Mahdizadeh & Elaheh K. Goharshadi

  2. Center of Nano Research, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, 91779, Mashhad, Iran

    Elaheh K. Goharshadi

Authors
  1. Sayyed Jalil Mahdizadeh
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  2. Elaheh K. Goharshadi
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Correspondence to Sayyed Jalil Mahdizadeh.

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Appendix

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Mahdizadeh, S.J., Goharshadi, E.K. Natural gas storage on silicon, carbon, and silicon carbide nanotubes: a combined quantum mechanics and grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation study. J Nanopart Res 15, 1393 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-012-1393-4

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