Improved utilization of Cu0 for efficient adsorption of iodine in gas and solution by mesoporous Cu0-SBA-15 via solvothermal reduction method

Cu-based materials have been considered as good adsorbents for iodine adsorption. However, the development of Cu-based adsorbent with high Cu utilization remains a significant challenge. Herein, we report a new Cu0-SBA-15 adsorbent with high Cu utilization for high capacity adsorption of iodine in gas and solution. An improved solvothermal reduction strategy was proposed to fabricate Cu0-SBA-15 composite with high Cu utilization. The benefit of the strategy was that the Cu0 nanoparticles were confined on the surface or pore wall of mesoporous SBA-15, which improved the utilization of adsorption sites for iodine. The results demonstrated that the obtained Cu0-SBA-15 composite showed high adsorption capacities of 954 mg/g and 842 mg/g for iodine in gas and solution, respectively, and reached a record high Cu utilization of 96.93%. The obtained Cu0-SBA-15 composite showed high thermal stability. Furthermore, the iodine adsorption mechanism was that Cu0 reacted with I2 to form stable CuI. Owing to the excellent adsorption performance, the obtained Cu0-SBA-15 might be potential promising iodine adsorbent.