The Critical Role of Oxygen Vacancies in N2O Decomposition Over Cobalt-Doped CeO2 Catalysts

Catalytic decomposition is a promising method for N2O removal, and the nature of active sites on the catalysts is under debate. The combination of experimental observations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicates that oxygen vacancies in the metal oxide catalysts serve as the active sites for N2O decomposition. Co doping in CeO2 significantly increases the content of oxygen vacancies, thereby enhancing the activity of the catalyst for N2O decomposition. A catalyst with Co/Ce = 1 exhibited the best activity, with a T90 of 375 °C and excellent stability maintained for over 100 h, which is much better than that of Co3O4 spinel. The finding advances the understanding of active sites in the N2O catalytic decomposition and contributes to the design of highly efficient catalysts.