Realizing Toluene Deep Mineralization by Coupling Nonthermal Plasma and Nitrogen-Enriched Hollow Hybrid Carbon
Changwei Chen, Mohammadreza Kosari, Chi He, Mudi Ma, Mingjiao Tian, Zeyu Jiang, Reem Albilali
Abstract
Achieving excellent efficiency to mineralize volatile organic compounds (VOCs) under nonthermal plasma catalysis (NTP-catalysis) systems tremendously relies on the catalyst design. Herein, we report a dual-template strategy for synthesizing a core–shell structured nitrogen-enriched hollow hybrid carbon (N-HHC) by a facile pyrolysis of a Mn-ZIF-8@polydopamine core–shell precursor. N-HHC exhibits a remarkable plasma synergy effect and superior degradation efficiency for toluene (up to 90% with a specific input energy of 281 J/L), excellent CO2 selectivity (>45%), and byproduct-inhibiting capability. Such outstanding functionality of the developed N-HHC is uniquely attributed to its hollow multistage and channeling structure, high concentration of O3-decomposing species (pyrrolic and oxide pyridinic-N), and abundant ZnO active sites. Shedding light on an efficient synthetic strategy for designing an advanced nanocatalyst with enhanced VOC destruction in the NTP-catalysis system, the present results could be extended to design other N-doped metal/metal oxide-decorated hollow porous carbons for environment-related applications.