Highly Efficient Air Desulfurization on Self-Assembled Bundles of Copper Hydroxide Nanorods

Copper hydroxide and copper hydroxyl nitrate were successfully synthesized from copper nitrate. A slight alteration of a base addition pathway led to entirely different chemical and crystal structures. Structural, morphological, and surface chemical features were analyzed using various physical and chemical methods. The copper hydroxide texture consists of self-assembled bundles of nanorods with a diameter between 15 and 40 nm. They are stack together forming platelet-like particles. In the case of the copper hydroxyl nitrate, platelet-like particles with a smooth surface were detected. The fully hydroxylated sample showed a considerably higher surface area and mesoporous volume than those of copper hydroxyl nitrate. Both synthesized materials were used as air desulfurization media at moist or dry conditions. The results indicate a supreme chemical adsorption of H₂S on copper hydroxide. Moisture in air has a positive effect on the adsorption performance. In humid conditions, almost 0.9 mol H₂S/mol of Cu(OH)₂ was adsorbed. CuS with almost a stoichiometric ratio was a product of surface reactions. The color change of the powder from sapphire blue to dark brown during the adsorption can be used as a fast indication of the adsorbent exhaustion level.