In-situ preparation of Cu-BTC modified with organic amines for H2S removal under ambient conditions

•The introduction of organic amines promotes the formation of accumulated mesoporous.•The introduction of organic amines exposes more active sites of Cu-BTC.•The smaller steric hindrance of BA increases the accessibility of Cu active sites. Amine modification is an effective strategy to improve the H2S removal performance of Cu-BTC. In order to avoid the problem of pore blockage after amine modification in post synthesis impregnation, herein a series of Cu-BTC modified with organic amine adsorbents were prepared via an in-situ one-pot method and the H2S removal performance under ambient conditions was tested. It is found that the introduced organic amines, depending on the types of amine selected, have a significant influence on the growth of Cu-BTC and its textural properties. The H2S removal performance on the as-prepared materials suggested that the amine modified samples remarkably improved the H2S removal capacities with an order of BA-Cu-BTC > TEA-Cu-BTC > TEOA-Cu-BTC > Cu-BTC. Besides the enlarged surface area and the increased mesopores volumes, BA has the advantages of smaller steric hindrance and –NH2 groups, among which the former increased the accessibility of Cu active sites while the latter acted as additional active sites for H2S capturing, thus affording BA-Cu-BTC highest breakthrough capacity of 77.3 mg S/g. Overall, this study elaborates the effect of organic amines in-situ modification on the Cu-BTC structure and desulfurization. [Display omitted]