Abstract
Aerogels are low-density porous materials, made mostly of air, for which hundreds of applications have been found in recent years. Inorganic oxide-based aerogels have been known for a long time, carbon aerogels were discovered in the early 1990s and sulfur- and selenium-based aerogels (chalcogels) are the most recent additions to this family. Here we present new aerogels made of Co(Ni)-Mo(W)-S networks with extremely large surface areas and porosity. These systems are formed by the coordinative reactions of (MoS 4) 2 and (WS 4) 2 with Co 2 and Ni 2 salts in non-aqueous solvents. We show that these low-density sponge-like networks can absorb conjugated organic molecules and mercury ions, and preferentially adsorb CO 2 over H 2, which illustrates their high potential as gas-separation media. The chalcogels are shown to be twice as active as the conventional sulfided Co-Mo/Al 2 O 3 catalyst for the hydrodesulfurization of thiophene.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 217-224 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Nature chemistry |
Volume | 1 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jun 1 2009 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Chemistry(all)
- Chemical Engineering(all)