Anionic defects engineering of Co3O4 catalyst for toluene oxidation

Development of advanced metal oxide catalysts for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) abatement is of great environmental and economic importance. Herein, a defective Co3O4 catalyst is delineated via N doping. The anionic defects engineering significantly facilitated the oxygen vacancies formation, leading to a distorted lattice structure, increased active surface oxygen and enhanced oxygen mobility of Co3O4 catalyst. These features promise an excellent toluene oxidation performance with 50% toluene conversion temperature (T50) of 208 °C and 90 % toluene conversion temperature (T90) of 218 °C at a space velocity of 60,000 mL g−1h−1, about 33 °C and 53 °C lower than that of the pristine Co3O4, respectively. Meanwhile, the N doped Co3O4 catalyst maintains a high hydrothermal stability at 210 °C. This work exemplifies the significance of anionic defects for the intrinsic catalytic oxidation ability improvement, providing a guidance for the upgradation of the metal oxide for the application of VOCs catalytic degradation and beyond.