Here’s one for the amateur chemists. These are some notes I had filed away about deodorizing shoes using nitric oxide (NO) gas. This has been sitting on my back burner for a long time. I haven’t gotten around to trying it out to deodorize stinky armor. I’m mentioning it here in case someone else might be interested in playing with it.
Note that this is nitric oxide and NOT nitrous oxide (laughing gas). Also note that the safety data for nitric oxide mentions that it is very toxic by inhalation.
Work in a well ventilated area and don’t be breathing the stuff.
Generating NO gas is simple enough. Sodium nitrate + citric acid + water will generate NO gas.
Attached is a news article from back in 2000 that gives some basic info about the reaction and the deodorizer box. The article is no longer online so I’ve included a scan from a printed copy I have.