The decontamination ability of montmorillonite-based acid-activated clay (AACL) toward the chemical warfare agents (CWAs) mustard gas (HD), soman (GD), and venomous agent X (VX) is evaluated using gas chromatography–flame ionization detection (GC-FID) with internal standard calibration. Unlike HD and GD, VX rapidly reacts with AACL; 99.6% of VX is chemically decontaminated within 10 min. Further investigation into the interaction of AACL with VX revealed that the initial rate of the reaction depends on the concentration of acid on the surface of AACL (the measured pH), suggesting that the formation of a protonated VX intermediate is involved. This reaction occurs in a stoichiometric manner, and surface-bound degradation products are identified and estimated using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM-EDS). The optimized weight ratio of AACL to VX is 40:1 when the reaction time is fixed at 10 min. AACL also shows good adsorption capacity for CWAs, with more than 96% of CWAs physically removed by adsorption. These results not only suggest an essential design strategy for the development of reactive sorbents for VX but also indicate that AACL, which can be mass-produced at low cost, can be regarded as a promising material for immediate decontamination of CWAs.

中文翻译：

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用酸活化粘土净化VX

使用气相色谱-火焰电离检测法评估了蒙脱土酸活化粘土（AACL）对化学战剂（CWAs）芥子气（HD），梭曼（GD）和有毒剂X（VX）的去污能力（ GC-FID）和内部标准品校正。与HD和GD不同，VX与AACL快速反应。在10分钟内对99.6％的VX进行了化学净化。对AACL与VX相互作用的进一步研究表明，反应的初始速率取决于ACL表面上酸的浓度（测得的pH），表明质子化VX中间体的形成。该反应以化学计量的方式发生，并且使用气相色谱-质谱（GC-MS），X射线光电子能谱（XPS）来识别和估计表面结合的降解产物，和场发射扫描电子显微镜（FESEM-EDS）。当反应时间固定在10分钟时，AACL与VX的最佳重量比为40：1。AACL还显示出对CWA的良好吸附能力，超过96％的CWA被吸附物理去除。这些结果不仅为开发VX反应性吸附剂提供了必要的设计策略，而且还表明可以低成本大量生产的ACL可以被视为立即净化CWA的有前途的材料。