Calcium as the superior coating metal in functionalization of carbon fullerenes for high-capacity hydrogen storage

We explore theoretically the feasibility of functionalizing carbon nanostructures for hydrogen storage, focusing on the coating of C60 fullerenes with light alkaline-earth metals. Our first-principles density functional theory studies show that both Ca and Sr can bind strongly to the C60 surface, and highly prefer monolayer coating, thereby explaining existing experimental observations. The strong binding is attributed to an intriguing charge transfer mechanism involving the empty d levels of the metal elements. The charge redistribution, in turn, gives rise to electric fields surrounding the coated fullerenes, which can now function as ideal molecular hydrogen attractors. With a hydrogen uptake of >8.4 wt % on Ca32C60, Ca is superior to all the recently suggested metal coating elements.