Trifunctional C@MnO Catalyst for Enhanced Stable Simultaneously Catalytic Removal of Formaldehyde and Ozone

The key challenge for controlling low concentration volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is to develop technology capable of operating under mild conditions in a cost-effective manner. Meanwhile, ozone (O-3) is another dangerous air pollutant and byproducts of many emerging air quality control technologies, such as plasma and electrostatic precipitators. To address these multiple challenges, we report here a design strategy capable of achieving the following trifunctions (i.e., efficiently VOCs adsorption enrichment, ozone destruction, and stable VOCs degradation) from the synergistic effect of adsorption center encapsulation and catalytic active sites optimization using 2D manganese(II) monoxide nanosheets decorated carbon spheres with hierarchical core shell structure. Carbonous residues in the as-synthesized MnOx matrices played a key role for in situ generating homogeneous dispersed unsaturated MnO during the annealing of the as-synthesized C@MnOx in the flow of argon under a proper calcination temperature (550 degrees C). The formation of the intimacy interface between MnO and carbon not only facilitates the adsorption and subsequent catalytic reaction but also results in a gatekeeper effect on the protection of the carbon sphere against the etching of O-3. Such a composite architecture achieved the highest stable removal efficiency (100% for CO2 ppm of formaldehyde and 180 ppm of O-3 simultaneously) and 100% CO2 selectivity under a GHSV of 60000 mL h(-1) g(-1) These findings thus open up a way to address current multiple challenges in air quality control using a single hierarchical core shell structure.