Monolithic Cu₂O-CuO/Cu Mesh Catalyst for Ambient Ozone Removal

Abstract

Nowadays, it is highly desired to decompose near-ground O3, as it is not only harmful to humans but also can react with other gases to form secondary pollutants because of its strong oxidizing properties. Here, a monolithic Cu2O-CuO/Cu mesh catalyst is fabricated by a facile thermal oxidation and reduction (at 350 °C) method using Cu mesh. The as-synthesized catalyst can maintain 98% conversion for 5 h to 0.34 ppm of O3, at space velocity of 23,000 h‑1 and RH 45% which is one of the highest in the literature. The high catalytic activity of the samples can be assigned to the interconversion of Cu+ and Cu2+, more oxygen vacancies, and hole carriers in the p-p heterojunction of CuO-Cu2O. As a proof of concept, it maintains 100% conversion efficiency to ambient O3 for more than 10 h at 0.08 ppm and RH 45% when used in conjunction with a mask. All these results show the promise of this monolithic O3 catalyst on Cu mesh by the facile fabrication method for ambient O3 removal.

A Photochemically Active Cu2O Nanoparticle Endows Scaffolds with Good Antibacterial Performance by Efficiently Generating Reactive Oxygen Species

“…The whole XPS spectrum of Cu 2 O@rGO possessed Cu, O, and C electronic orbitals, which were basically consistent with those of pure Cu 2 O. Furthermore, the Cu 2 O spectrum showed that the strong characteristic peaks symbolizing Cu + 2p 3/2 and Cu + 2p 1/2 were located at 932.38 and 952.38 eV, whereas the characteristic peaks symbolizing Cu ion 2p 3/2 and Cu ion 2p 1/2 were located at 934.68 and 955.08 eV, respectively [39]. As a comparison, both peak positions symbolizing Cu + in Cu 2 O@rGO redshifted, which indicates that there is an interaction between rGO and Cu 2 O [40].…”

A Review of Ozone Decomposition by a Copper-Based Catalyst

“…Pure CuO nanowires have poor catalytic activity for ozone decomposition reactions, but after constructing Cu 2 O nanocones, this Cu composite structure exhibits high activity, making it suitable as a practical catalyst (Figure 8b). Guan et al [65] further modified the copper mesh and constructed Cu 2 O nanocones on the surface, then applied it to the nonwoven cloth (Figure 8c). The cost of modified copper mesh is lower than that of foam metal, which helps to remove ozone in daily applications, expanding the application of ozone decomposition catalysts from fixed (indoor or enclosed spaces) to mobile scenarios.…”

“…In contrast, the use of copper foam requires loading in the tubular catalytic device to form an integrated catalyst, whether it is a wet redox process or a gas-phase redox process [66] (Figure 8d). [64], Royal Society of Chemistry, copyright 2020 [65], and American Chemical Society, copyright 2023 [66]).…”

“…Figure 8. Schematics of (a) copper-based monolithic catalyst oxidized sample and reduced sample; (b) Cu 2 O-coated Al honeycomb integrated catalytic module; (c) Cu-Cu 2 O-modified Cu mechanism and application of it to nonwoven cloth; (d) nanowire-loaded Cu foam monolithic catalyst in a typical application scenario (reproduced with permission from American Chemical Society, copyright 2022[64], Royal Society of Chemistry, copyright 2020[65], and American Chemical Society, copyright 2023[66]). …”