Electricity-pulse-sparked rapid combustion of diesel soot on conductive LaCoO3 catalysts

In coping with the rapid emission of massive soot particles during the cold starts of diesel vehicles, achieving rapid catalytic soot combustion at low temperatures is a formidable challenge. Herein, we developed an electricity-pulse-sparked catalysis (EPSC) strategy on a conductive LaCoO3 perovskite catalyst, creating instantaneous soot combustion. As soon as 800 J of electricity pulse is applied, approximately 80 % of soot is combusted within 1 min at <300 °C, exhibiting the higher reaction rates (180−1300 µmol gcat−1 s−1) and energy efficiencies (18−100 gsoot kWh−1) than previously reported results for catalytic soot combustion. Moreover, the EPSC eliminates the gap of contact between soot and catalyst that is a longstanding bottleneck for the specific solid (soot)-solid (catalyst)-gas (O2) reaction, which can be synchronized with the frequently engine start/stop operations, demonstrating potential to address the challenges of soot emissions for hybrid powers.