Synergistic Effect of Copper and Cobalt in Cu-Co-O Composite Nanocatalyst for Catalytic Ozonation

Abstract

A novel Cu-Co-O composite nanocatalyst was designed and prepared for the ozonation of phenol. A synergistic effect of copper and cobalt was observed over the Cu-Co-O composite nanocatalyst, which showed higher activity than either copper or cobalt oxide alone. In addition, the Cu-Co-O composite revealed good activity in a wide initial pH range (4.11-8.05) of water. The fine dispersion of cobalt on the surface of copper oxide boosted the interaction between catalyst and ozone, and the surface Lewis acid sites on the Cu-Co-O composite were determined as the active sites. The Raman spectroscopy also proved that the Cu-Co-O composite was quite sensitive to the ozone. The trivalent cobalt in the Cu-Co-O composite was proposed as the valid state.