A confined growth strategy to construct 3DOM SiO2 nanoreactor in-situ embedded Co3O4 nanoparticles catalyst for the catalytic combustion of VOCs: Superior H2O and SO2 resistance
Weigao Han, Shilin Wu, Fang Dong, Weiliang Han, Yinghao Chu, Linghui Su, Zhicheng Tang
Abstract
SO 2 poisoning is a common problem in the catalytic combustion of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In this work, we took three-dimensionally ordered macroporous and mesoporous (3DOM) SiO 2 as the nanoreactor to protect active sites from SO 2 erosion in the catalytic combustion of benzene. Simultaneously, the confined growth of metal active nanoparticles in the multistage pore is also full of challenges. And we successfully confined Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles (NPs) in macroporous and mesoporous channels. Interestingly, the precursors’ growth in the pore was controlled and nanoreactors with different pore sizes were prepared by adjusting the loading amount and preparation methods. It is discovered that the Co 3 O 4 NPs confined in 3DOM SiO 2 nanoreactor showed superior sulfur and water resistance. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations verified that the Co-Si catalyst had high SO 2 adsorption energy (−0.48 eV), which illustrated that SO 2 was hard to attach to the surface of the Co-Si catalyst. The SiO 2 nanoreactor had low SO 2 adsorption energy (−5.15 eV), which indicated that SO 2 was easily absorbed on SiO 2 nanoreactor. This illustrated that the SiO 2 nanoreactor could protect effectively active sites from SO 2 erosion.