Thermal, structural and Morphological Features of ZeaMays Husk Activated Carbon for Hydrogen Physisorption

Thermal, structural and Morphological Features of ZeaMays Husk Activated Carbon for Hydrogen Physisorption | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Thermal, structural and Morphological Features of ZeaMays Husk Activated Carbon for Hydrogen Physisorption Oluwashina Gbenebor, Abimbola Popoola This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7049437/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 14 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Engineering → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Plant-sourced biomass is a natural renewable material that has proven to be a good substitute for fossil fuels in energy. Activated carbon (AC) is a carbonized porous material often synthesized from plant biomass for different energy applications, including hydrogen storage. Considering the components of the corn stover, the potency of corn husk (CH) AC for hydrogen storage via physisorption needs to be evaluated. Two different conventional activation reagents-potassium hydroxide (KOH) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) are made to interact with carbonized cornhusk biochar. Characterizations through scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) show that the properties of these two ACs are comparable. However, their porous structures as analyzed via Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) technique clarifies the difference as activation with KOH (AKNH) possesses a higher microporous surface area (S BET ) and volume of 904.76 m 2 /g and 1.00 cm 3 /g respectively; 704.80 m 2 /g and 0.36 cm 3 /g are characterized by NaOH-activated CH bio- char (ANCH). At 77 K and 1 bar, 3.12 wt. % hydrogen is adsorbed by AKCH while the uptake capacity for ANCH is 2.38 wt. %. The higher S BET and micropore volume displayed by AKCH is attributed to its better hydrogen uptake. Activated carbon biomass corn husk hydrogen physisorption Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 14 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Engineering → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7049437","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":482469492,"identity":"50b50c99-aa09-4447-8ff4-3d843e5635b4","order_by":0,"name":"Oluwashina Gbenebor","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABE0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCcbGAwlgBhAzNjAw8IM4CQV4tTSgapFsAGkxwKeFgeEAjAHWYgDm4tFiLt3ccODhjjo5+ejmYw8+7rDJNz6/OvHDAwMGeX6xA1i1WM452HAg8cxhY8M7x9INZ55Js9x24+1mCaDDDGfOTsCqxeBGIlBL24HEjTNyzKR52w4bmN04uwGkJcHgNl4tdUAt+d+k/wK1GM84u/kHEVqYE+dL5LBJMwK1GPD3bsNri+WMRIhfDGSOmUn2nkkzkLjBu80iwUACp1/MJdIfPvwJCrHZzc8kfu6wMeDvP7v55o8KG3l+aRwOAxGI6AABCbBKCazKUbTIN8CE+A/gUDsKRsEoGAUjFQAAGbJsueq90Z4AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1693-4601","institution":"Tshwane University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Oluwashina","middleName":"","lastName":"Gbenebor","suffix":""},{"id":482469493,"identity":"04b98683-134c-4971-b061-20e2b2679a78","order_by":1,"name":"Abimbola Popoola","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Tshwane University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Abimbola","middleName":"","lastName":"Popoola","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-07-04 20:55:22","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7049437/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7049437/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40712-025-00348-y","type":"published","date":"2025-11-14T15:57:51+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":96105354,"identity":"cc3c445b-1c67-49af-b827-83588c29c1ab","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-17 16:11:18","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":737654,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"MANUSCRIPT.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7049437/v1_covered_b5e87351-d716-4823-b063-7da19b5ab377.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"","formattedTitle":"Thermal, structural and Morphological Features of ZeaMays Husk Activated Carbon for Hydrogen Physisorption","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":true,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Activated carbon, biomass, corn husk, hydrogen, physisorption","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7049437/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7049437/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003ePlant-sourced biomass is a natural renewable material that has proven to be a good substitute for fossil fuels in energy. Activated carbon (AC) is a carbonized porous material often synthesized from plant biomass for different energy applications, including hydrogen storage. Considering the components of the corn stover, the potency of corn husk (CH) AC for hydrogen storage via physisorption needs to be evaluated. Two different conventional activation reagents-potassium hydroxide (KOH) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) are made to interact with carbonized cornhusk biochar. Characterizations through scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) show that the properties of these two ACs are comparable. However, their porous structures as analyzed via Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) technique clarifies the difference as activation with KOH (AKNH) possesses a higher microporous surface area (S\u003csub\u003eBET\u003c/sub\u003e) and volume of 904.76 m\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e/g and 1.00 cm\u003csup\u003e3\u003c/sup\u003e/g respectively; 704.80 m\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e/g and 0.36 cm\u003csup\u003e3\u003c/sup\u003e/g are characterized by NaOH-activated CH bio- char (ANCH). At 77 K and 1 bar, 3.12 wt. % hydrogen is adsorbed by AKCH while the uptake capacity for ANCH is 2.38 wt. %. The higher S\u003csub\u003eBET\u003c/sub\u003e and micropore volume displayed by AKCH is attributed to its better hydrogen uptake.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Thermal, structural and Morphological Features of ZeaMays Husk Activated Carbon for Hydrogen Physisorption","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-07-10 18:00:33","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7049437/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"3ea1d995-c11b-4718-ad0f-773058c0828f","owner":[],"postedDate":"July 10th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-11-17T16:07:42+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-7049437","link":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40712-025-00348-y","journal":{"identity":"journal-of-materials-science-materials-in-engineering","isVorOnly":true,"title":"Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Engineering"},"publishedOn":"2025-11-14 15:57:51","publishedOnDateReadable":"November 14th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-07-10 18:00:33","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1186/s40712-025-00348-y","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40712-025-00348-y","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7049437","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7049437","identity":"rs-7049437","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}