Cu-Promoted Cobalt Oxide Film Catalyst for Efficient Gas Emissions Abatement

Abstract

Thin film catalysts have been recently reported as promising catalysts owing to their good catalytic activity and reduced material amount, leading to low-cost efficient catalysts for gaseous emissions control. Here, we report the slight loading of Cu in cobalt spinel using a one-step pulsed-spray evaporation chemical vapor deposition (PSE-CVD) synthesis technique for efficient short-chain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions treatment. Crystalline structure and morphology analyses revealed nano-crystallite sizes and open-like morphology. The catalytic performance was evaluated through the complete oxidation of C3H6, as a short-chain representative model of VOCs, at a high gas hourly space velocity (GHSV). Very good activity was obtained towards the complete abatement of C3H6 at low temperature and no carbon monoxide (CO) was formed during the oxidation process. Slightly-promoted Co3O4 catalyst with Cu introduction resulted in high catalytic activity comparing to the performance of the catalysts in the literature, due to the high dispersion of Cu and high active surface oxygen amount. Moreover, to evaluate the capability of the used catalysts under near realistic reaction conditions, CO2 effect on the catalytic activity was performed and the catalyst exhibited very good results. Thus, the adopted slightly-doping strategy to tailor a high active catalyst at low temperature could establish a very promising route to strongly enhance the activity of such other catalysts towards gas emissions abatement at low temperature.