High performance ozone decomposition spinel (Mn,Co)3O4 catalyst accelerating the rate-determining step

At present, it is still a challenge to develop ozone decomposition catalysts with high efficiency and high humidity resistance. Herein, a series of spinel (Mn,Co)3O4 catalysts are synthesized by coprecipitation method. Compared with the Mn3O4 and Co3O4 analogues, the obtained (Mn,Co)3O4 has CoCoIIIII× acceptor-defect and MnMnIIIII× donor-defect, which could contribute to the electron transfer between catalyst and ozone, accelerating ozone decomposition. Importantly, the in-situ Raman spectra of Mn3O4 shows the accumulation of peroxide species (O22-) inferring that the decomposition of O22- is the rate-determining step. On the other side, the reaction of the atomic oxygen with ozone would be rate-determining for Co3O4, as revealed by the low efficiency but no O22- signal. However, the synergy of Mn and Co in (Mn,Co)3O4 accelerates both the rate-determining steps obtaining high efficiency, which provides a new idea to develop catalysts in ozone elimination.