Table 1. Textural Properties of the Porous Scaffolds and the LiBH₄ and Porous Scaffold Nanocomposites.

	rp	Vpa	Vmicrob	SBET	LiBH4	LiBH4extrac	confined	fraction of pores filled
sample	nm	cm3/g	cm3/g	m2/g	wt %	wt %	wt %	%
SiO2-3.3	3.3	0.28	0.05	311	18.7	4.2	14.5	92
SiO2-3.6	3.6	0.37	0.08	406	13.2	0	13.2	70
SiO2-4.2	4.2	0.65	0.10	657	27	0.8	26.2	87
SiO2-4.4	4.4	0.62	0.09	625	23	0	23	80
SiO2-5.9	5.9	0.77	0.03	475	30	3.7	26.3	78
SiO2-6.1	6.1	0.77	0.04	500	38	15.2	22.8	67
C-3.1	3.1	0.53	0.17	612	27.8	2.9	24.9	98
C-3.8	3.8	0.59	0.17	571	17.8	0	17.8	67
C-5.6	5.6	0.77	0.16	560	22.3	0	22.3	69
C-20	20	1.37	0.19	592	37	0.2	36.8	77

^aTotal pore volume measured at p/p₀ = 0.95 for silica scaffolds and at p/p₀ = 0.99 for carbon scaffolds.

^bMicroporous volume determined from the t-plot

^cAmount of LiBH₄ outside the pores as measured by DSC and expressed as the weight percentage of the nanocomposites.