Alkaline earth oxide nanoparticles as destructive absorbents for environmental toxins

Sr and Ca oxide nanoparticles are very reactive materials used to mitigate atmospheric pollution and to sequester polluting molecules. We have studied the structure of SrO nanoparticles, using Sr K-edge and Fe K-edge XAFS, th at were prepared with various reactivities, with or without a Fe2O3 coating , and before and after reaction with CCl4 or SO2. For CCl4, the polluting f raction of the reagent is totally absorbed in the bulk particle. For SO2, t he results show a total reaction for the Aerogel Preparation (AP) compound. For the coated particles before reaction, the iron oxide has a very disord ered structure, and it is mixed with small metallic iron clusters for Conve ntional Preparation (CP) compounds.