Effects of impure ions in precursors on the formation of active oxygen in MnO2 for promoting VOCs oxidation

Abstract

Impure ions in the precursor can cause the structural transition of prepared MnO2 catalysts and influence their activity in toluene catalytic oxidation. Here, the effects of K+ and SO42- on the catalytic activity of MnO2 are examined. Removing absorbed SO42- by repeating water washing facilitates the exposure of active sites on the surface of MnO2. The temperature for toluene conversion reaches 90% (T90) of catalysts decreases from 247 ºC to 238 ºC. While the loss of K+ during the water washing leads to the inferior performance of MnO2. Re-impregnating of K+ can stimulate the generation of active oxygen species on the surface of catalysts (K/MnO2), which showed elevated catalytic activity in toluene conversion (T90, 229 ºC). In addition, K/MnO2 performs good stability for toluene combustion in long-term operation. Density Function Theory calculations reveal that the formation energy of oxygen vacancy and the adsorption energy of toluene on the surface of catalyst decrease from 6.996 eV and − 0.079 to 5.482 eV and − 0.468 eV as the introduction of K+, respectively. Our results provide a complete understanding of the effects of impurity ions on the performance of manganese oxide for catalytic oxidation of toluene.