Co3O4 supported on bone-derived hydroxyapatite as potential catalysts for N2O catalytic decomposition

Abstract

Natural hydroxyapatite (nHAP) obtained from roasted pork bone was used as carrier of Co3O4 to prepare Co/nHAP catalyst for N2O catalytic decomposition. For the sake of contrast, the catalytic activity of Co3O4 supported on synthetic HAP (Co/HAP-Syn) and pure Co3O4 were also investigated. Activity tests indicate that the Co/nHAP could achieve higher catalytic activity than Co/HAP-Syn and pure Co3O4, even in impurity gases, as well as superior stability. The characterization results concluded that, compared with those on Co/HAP-Syn, the sizes of Co3O4 particles on Co/nHAP are smaller, which may contribute to enhance the quantity of active sites. More importantly, the existence of K, Na and Mg elements on the nHAP derived from bone can weaken the CoO bond and increase the amount of oxygen vacancies. All these factors could promote the catalytic activity as well as less inhibition affected by impurity gases. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on N2O catalytic decomposition making use of abandoned bones as effective support material, which can develop a sustainable and promising solution to the growing problem of environment.