The membranes prepared in this work have several advantages compared to previously published membranes, designed in the form of powdered materials or thin Pd layers. This work explores advanced methods for preparing nanofibrous composite materials based on PUR/Pd. It introduces a novel dGC characterization method, unpublished until now, that enables simultaneous study of the sorption and desorption of H2. The method simulates real-life process conditions using a gas stream.

Hydrogen-capturing membranes under standard atmospheric conditions have been prepared based on polyurethane (PUR) nanofibers modified by using Pd nanoparticles. Hydrogen sorption capacity achieved at room temperature and a pressure of 1 bar is 207.7 ml g−1 (1.9 wt%) and at 4 bar, it is 1173.3 ml g−1 (10.6 wt%), measured by the standard Pressure Decay (PD) method. An original method, the dynamic Gas Chromatography (dGC) method, has been developed for H2 sorption tests simulating conditions in a gas mixture stream. The comparison of both types of sorption tests is useful for practical use in selectively capturing H2 under real conditions. Desorption tests performed by the dGC method confirmed the reasonable stability of the content of captured hydrogen in the membrane at room temperature and normal atmospheric pressure. The membrane is self-supporting and air-permeable, allowing easy design of the functional unit.