High-surface-area molybdenum sulfide (MoSx) and antimony sulfide (SbSx) chalcogels were studied for Xe/Kr gas separation. The intrinsic soft Lewis basic character of the chalcogel framework is a unique property among the large family of porous materials and lends itself to a potential new approach toward the selective separation of Xe over Kr. Among these chalcogels, MoSx shows the highest Xe and Kr uptake, reaching 0.69 mmol g-1 (1.05 mmol cm-3) and 0.28 mmol g-1 (0.42 mmol cm-3) respectively, at 273 K and 1 bar. The corresponding isosteric heat of adsorption at zero coverage (Qst0) is 22.8 and 18.6 kJ mol-1 and both are the highest among the selected chalcogels. The IAST (10:90) Xe/Kr selectivity at 273 K for MoSx is 6.0, whereas for SbSx chalcogels, it varies in the range 2.0-2.8. The higher formal charge of molybdenum, Mo4+, in MoSx versus that of antimony, Sb3+, in SbSx coupled with its larger atomic size could induce higher polarizability in the MoSx framework and therefore higher Xe/Kr selectivity.
Keywords: aerogels; chalcogenide; nuclear remediation; porous materials.