Low-temperature NO removal over copper-containing activated carbon

Adsorbents based on a copper modified activated carbon were synthesized and investigated in respect to NO chemisorption at ambient temperature in both inert and oxidative media. To correlate the adsorption ability of the adsorbents with the preparation parameters the materials were characterized by N2-physisorption, AAA, NO-TPD, XRD, XPS, EPR, IR and magnetic measurements. In the presence of oxygen, the NO chemisorption is higher, proceeds through two stages of oxidation on the carbon surface and forms three N-containing species, which decompose to produce either NO and CO2 or NO and CO. The presence of the copper phase does not change the mechanism of adsorption, but can increase the adsorption capacity. On the surface of the most active adsorbent obtained in vacuum – CuACM-v, small clusters of Cu2+ ions were observed related to the exchange interaction.