P123-assisted synthesis of Co3O4 catalyst for efficiently catalyzing N2O decomposition under simulated real tail-gases

Abstract

The 8.0P-Co3O4 catalyst was prepared by sol-gel method with the assistance of P123 and investigated for catalyzing N2O decomposition. Research indicated that although the specific surface area of 8.0P-Co3O4 catalyst was only 18 m2·g−1, it exposed more highly active crystal planes, such as (111), (331), (400), and (222), and possessed higher surface oxygen vacancy density (5.64 µmol·m−2) compared with that of 0P-Co3O4 and Co3O4(P) catalysts. Due to these reasons, the corresponding reaction activation energy of 8.0P-Co3O4 for the reaction was significantly reduced, and the catalytic activity of 8.0P-Co3O4 was enhanced compared with that of Co3O4(P). Most importantly, the N2O conversion can maintain about 73 % over the catalyst for at least 24 h when the three impurity gases of 5 vol% O2, 100 ppmv NO, and 2 vol% H2O were coexisted at 400 °C, GHSV = 20,000 h−1.