Storage of hydrogen as a guest of a nanoporous polymeric crystalline phase

A mechanism of H2 uptake, based on adsorption in the ordered cavities of nanoporous polymeric crystalline phases rather than on disordered amorphous polymeric surfaces, has been clearly established, for aerogels of syndiotactic polystyrene (s-PS) exhibiting the nanoporous d phase. An ordered arrangement of the H2 molecules is proven by FTIR spectra while the inclusion of H2 is assessed by gravimetric measurements and molecular simulations.