Additively Manufactured Silicone Polymer Composite with High Hydrogen Getter Content and Hydrogen Absorption Capacity

Santosh Adhikari; Douglas J Safarik; John R Stockdale; Xavier M Torres; Adam Pacheco; Shelbie A Legett; Andrea Labouriau

doi:10.1021/acsomega.4c00386

Additively Manufactured Silicone Polymer Composite with High Hydrogen Getter Content and Hydrogen Absorption Capacity

ACS Omega. 2024 Mar 19;9(13):15547-15555. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.4c00386. eCollection 2024 Apr 2.

Authors

Santosh Adhikari¹, Douglas J Safarik², John R Stockdale¹, Xavier M Torres¹, Adam Pacheco¹, Shelbie A Legett¹, Andrea Labouriau¹

Affiliations

¹ C-CDE: Chemical Diagnostics and Engineering Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, United States.
² Sigma-1: Fabrication Manufacturing Science Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, United States.

Abstract

Hydrogen getters consisting of 1,4-bis[phenylethynyl] benzene (DEB) and a carbon-supported palladium catalyst (Pd/C) have been used to mitigate the accumulation of unwanted hydrogen gas in a sealed system. Here, we report the formulation of a composite resin consisting of silicone polymer plus DEB-Pd/C as an active getter material and the additive manufacturing of silicone getter composites with a high getter content (up to 50 wt %). NMR and DSC studies suggest no reaction between the silicone polymer resin and DEB even at elevated curing temperatures (75 °C). Getter composites with varying amounts of getter and filler were formulated, and their rheological properties were studied. The two composite resins with good printability parameters and different getter contents were chosen to make 3D-printed samples. The hydrogen absorption capacity of these samples was studied at a low hydrogen pressure of 750 mTorr of pure hydrogen. The getter composite with 50 wt% of getter showed normalized DEB conversion of 83%, with the hydrogen adsorption capacity of 100.2 mL of H₂ per gram of polymer getter composite.