Enhanced hydrogen storage and superior capacitive performances of ball milled PMMA/h-BN core–shell nanocomposite

The catastrophic climate change, global warming, and population growth enforce the scientific community to find out alternative clean, renewable, and sustainable energy sources. Among the existing clean and green energy sources, hydrogen has the potential to be an alternative for fossil fuels. So, the present work is focused on the effective way of storing hydrogen via ball milled polymethyl methacrylate (BPMMA)– and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)–based core–shell nanocomposite (BPBNC). In the prepared BPBNC, the hydrogen was stored via thermally (Sieverts-like hydrogenation setup) and electrochemically (chronopotentiometry technique). The structural, morphological, and surface analysis confirms the presence of h-BN nanoparticle (shell) is embedded at the surface of BPMMA (core). A 4.5 wt% of hydrogen storage capacity at 100 °C with 100% desorption of stored hydrogen for BPBNC (2.5 wt%) was noticed. Cyclic voltammetry studies reveal that highest anodic ( I Pa ) and cathodic ( I pc ) peak currents of 0.080 mA and − 0.070 mA were observed for BPBNC 2.5 wt% electrode. From the chronopotentiometry studies, a maximum hydrogen discharge capacity of 3100 mAhg −1 (4.8 wt%) at 24th cycle was observed. Hence, the prepared core–shell BPBNC may serve as an excellent hydrogen storage medium and an electrode material for energy storage devices. Graphical abstract