In-situ Joule-heating drives rapid and on-demand catalytic VOCs removal with ultralow energy consumption

The running of environmental purification usually employs massive consumption of energy, and it is of significant scientific importance and real impact to reduce the energy cost in environmental treatments. In particular, it is urgently required to minimalize the energy cost of the catalytic oxidation of gaseous pollutants represented by volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Herein, we develop a rapid in-situ Joule-heating configuration to drive the catalytic VOCs oxidation with ultra-low energy consumption. As a prototypical illustration, atomically dispersed Pt/CeO2 catalyst was decorated on conductive Nickle foam substrate to act as both catalytic and electric components with minimal pressure drop and high compatibility. The catalytic system exhibited 100% conversion toward toluene (1000 ppm, 33 mL min−1) with an ultralow input power of 6.5 W, which was 87% lower than that of a conventional heating furnace. Moreover, the long-term stability, high universality for various VOCs, and responsiveness for real-time changing components were also demonstrated. The outstanding electro-thermal properties of the system can be extended to more gaseous catalytic reactions with much lower energy consumption.