In Situ Synthesis of Monolithic Cu2O-CuO/Cu Catalysts for Effective Ozone Decomposition

Nowadays, ozone (O-3) has become a worldwide pollutant, and it is challenging to prepare monolithic O-3 decomposition catalysts substituting the conventional complicated process of adhering catalyst powders onto porous substrates. Herein, monolithic Cu2O-CuO/Cu catalysts are obtained facilely by in situ thermal oxidizing-reducing copper foam. After optimization, the CuO nanowires (NWs) are first produced by annealing Cu foam in O-2 at 400 degrees C for 2 h and then the NW surface is reduced into Cu2O by annealing in Ar/H-2 at 350 degrees C for 2 h. The obtained Cu2O-CuO/Cu monolithic catalyst exhibits high catalytic activity to 20 ppm O-3, maintaining 100% at a space velocity of 11,000 h(-1) and even about 94% at 38,000 h(-1). The catalytic ability toward O-3 can be attributed to the generated Cu+/Cu2+ redox couples, the donor/acceptor-type point defects, and the Cu2O-CuO p-p heterojunction. This demonstrates the successful and convenient preparation of the monolithic catalyst for rapid, controllable, and productive O-3 removal applications.

Automated summary

In this study, monolithic Cu2O-CuO/Cu catalysts were prepared by in situ thermal oxidizing-reducing copper foam. The obtained catalyst exhibited high catalytic activity towards O-3 removal, which can be attributed to the generated Cu+/Cu2+ redox couples, the donor/acceptor-type point defects, and the Cu2O-CuO p-p heterojunction. This research is of great importance for rapid, controllable, and productive O-3 removal applications.