Selective Ru Adsorption on SnO2/CeO2 Mixed Oxides for Efficient Destruction of Multicomponent Volatile Organic Compounds: From Laboratory to Practical Possibility

Ru-based catalysts have been extensively employed for the catalytic destruction of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCs), but their versatility for other routine VOCs' destruction has been less explored. Herein, we show that Ru-decorated SnO2/CeO2 mixed oxides can sustain H2O and HCl poisonings and are endowed with extraordinary versatility for a wide range of VOCs' destruction. Selective adsorption of Ru on the cassiterite SnO2 and CeO2 nanorods through a Coulomb force can rationally tune the oxidation and dechlorination centers on decorated catalysts, where the epitaxial growth of RuOx on top of SnO2 is endowed with excellent dechlorination ability and that on CeO2 is functional as an oxidation center; the latter could also activate H2O to provide sufficient H protons for HCl formation. Our developed Ru/SnO2/CeO2 catalyst can steadily destruct mono-chlorobenzene, ortho-dichlorobenzene, trichloroethylene, dichloromethane, epichlorohydrin, N-hexane, ethyl acetate, toluene, and their mixtures at an optimum temperature of 300 °C, and its monolithic form is also functional at this temperature with few dioxins being detected in the off-gas. Our results imply that the Ru-decorated SnO2/CeO2 catalyst can meet the demands of regenerative catalytic oxidation for the treatment of a wide range of VOCs from industrial exhausts.