Speakers
Description
Ultrapure liquid Argon (LAr) is a heavily used target for neutrino detection. Recently, an innovative adsorbent R-LDH based on layered double hydroxides has shown higher performance for oxygen capture in liquid argon than other materials frequently used [1]. This work aimed to develop a new pelletization methodology for the R-LDH materials containing highly dispersed CuO that can allow the scale up of this metals for oxygen capturing in LAr. For this purpose, different concentrations of HNO3 were used as a binder in the preparation of R-LDH pellets. Subsequently, the influence of HNO3 concentration on the structural, textural, and mechanical properties of the pellets was investigated, as well its effect on activation and performance during reduction-oxidation cycles, in order to correlate these properties with oxygen capture efficiency in LAr. The results showed that the pellets prepared with HNO3 preserved the structure derived from the layered double hydroxide and the high dispersion of CuO species, exhibiting good mechanical strength. Among the prepared materials, the material with the highest mechanical strength was submitted for activation and reduction-oxidation cycles. After activation, the R-LDH material was found to exhibit superior oxygen capture performance compared to the commercial copper oxide-based material BASF Cu-0226S typically used in LAr cryostat. These results demonstrate that the developed methodology constitutes a promising strategy for the preparation of large amounts of R-LDH pellets, enabling excellent oxygen capture performance from LAr in massive cryostats. We thank FAPESP-SP and FINEP-Br for financial support.
[1] A. M. Caffer et al, 2025, JINST, 20, C03043.
