Lithium doping of pentacene for electrochemical hydrogen storage

This study reports in detail the practical realization of electrochemical hydrogen storage in porous metal-incorporated nanostructured organic compounds, Li-doped pentacene, which has been synthesized by potentiostatic electrolysis and characterized by x-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectra analysis, and galvanostatic current charge-discharge measurements. Although the lithium doping is at a very low level the conductivity of pentacene increases considerably after the doping, which makes the ordered layer-stacked Li-doped pentacene very promising as electrode material for electrochemical hydrogen storage, and a discharge capacity of ca. 239 mA h/g (corresponding to 0.89 wt % hydrogen storage) has been achieved for the Li-doped pentacene electrode.