Pyrolysis of amine-intercalated lithium vanadates applicable as an oxygen-preferential adsorbent

Intercalation compounds were prepared from layered lithium vanadates with n-alkylamine molecules. Changes in their oxygen adsorption behavior when heated up to 500 degrees C were investigated. TG-DTA revealed that amine molecules exist in at least two forms in the host vanadate, i.e., cohesive amines and intercalated amines. The intercalation compounds showed significantly high oxygen adsorption by heat treatment at 300 degrees C where a radical formation was enhanced by the pyrolysis of the intercalated amines. Oxygen molecules adsorb chemically on the compounds while nitrogen molecules do not: however, reheating with evacuation after the first chemisorption could reactivate them to oxygen. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.