Nitrogen
oxide (NOx) in exhaust gas is one of the primary sources
of urban air pollution. In this study, zeolitic imidazolate frameworks
(ZIFs) were synthesized from Zn, Co co-precursors, and the optimized
porous Co/Zn-doped carbon nanoparticles (50-Co/Zn-CNPs) with an extremely
high NO adsorption capacity (irreversible and reversible NO adsorption
capacities of 560 and 110 μmol NO/g adsorbent, respectively)
under mild operating conditions (373 K, 10% O2, and 500
ppm NO), which were fabricated via thermal decomposition of Co/Zn
hybrid ZIFs at 1073 K. The high NO adsorption capacity of 50-Co/Zn-CNPs
was attributed to the highly dispersed Co species in their structure.
The 50-Co/Zn-CNPs retained 85% of their NO adsorption capacity in
the presence of 5% water vapor, and their NO adsorption capacity was
significantly higher than that of the conventional Pd-*BEA zeolite-based
passive NOx adsorbers (67%) with the same metal loading under the
same operating conditions.