In-situ synthesis of monodispersed Cu O heterostructure on porous carbon monolith for exceptional removal of gaseous Hg0

Gaseous Hg0 is one of the most deadly and hard-to-dispose pollutants. The oxidation of Hg0 is a promising route, but the rational design and synthesis of highly efficient catalysts still remain grand challenges. Herein, [email protected]2O (or CuxO) heterostructured nanoparticles uniformly monodispersing on porous carbon monolith were designed and successfully synthesized using oligo(m-phenylenediamine)-Cu2+ complex as raw material. The CuxO-carbon catalyst contains ∼28 wt% of Cu. Based on density functional theory calculation, the [email protected]2O junction interfaces can accelerate the Hg0 oxidation by significantly reducing the energy barriers of reaction. Only 1 mg of the catalyst can catalyze the oxidation of more than 90 % of Hg0 with [HCl] = 0.5 ppm, [O2] = 6 vol%, T = 150 °C. The poisoning effect of either SO2 or H2O on the catalysts is weak. Moreover, a long-term test confirmed that the Hg0 oxidation rate can maintain more than 90 % even in the co-presence of SO2 (5000 ppm) and H2O (10 vol%).