Facile preparation, characterization, and formaldehyde elimination performance of MnOx/natural loofah composites

Abstract MnO x /natural loofah composites were first prepared by a facile in‐situ reduction process under ambient conditions, in which natural loofah was impregnated in potassium permanganate solution for different time. MnO x nanoparticles were loaded on both exterior and interior of the fibrous strands of loofah after impregnation from SEM observations. The crystal structure and chemical properties of MnO x in the composites were confirmed to birnessite‐type MnO x with the interplanar spacing of ~0.24 nm and Mn oxidation state of 3.6 by XRD, Raman, FTIR, TEM, and XPS. Such produced MO x /loofah composites showed excellent performance for the catalytic oxidative decomposition and adsorption of formaldehyde at room temperature. The composites prepared with longer impregnation time exhibited better catalytic performance. The decomposition mechanism of HCHO over the MO x /loofah composites involved adsorbed HCHO on the loofah was oxidized into intermediates first and further CO 2 by MnO x through in‐situ DRIFTS analysis.