Enhanced toluene oxidation by photothermal synergetic catalysis on manganese oxide embedded with Pt single-atoms

The degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at low temperature remains a big challenge. Photothermal catalysis coupling the advantages of photocatalysis and thermocatalysis is promising to address this issue. However, there is still a long way to construct highly active catalysts and deeply under-stand the mechanism of photothermal catalysis. Herein, maganese oxide (MnO2) catalysts embedded with Pt single-atoms (0.11 wt% Pt) have achieved greatly enhanced toluene conversion of 95%, far surpassing most supported Pt photothermal catalysts. The excellent catalytic activity has been disclosed to derive from the synergetic effect of light-driven thermocatalysis and photocatalysis. The light-driven thermocatalysis predominates and the strong electron transfer from Pt single-atoms to MnO2 improves the activity of surface lattice oxygen to boost the generation of benzoic acid and the mineralization of toluene. Meanwhile, in photocatalytic process, Pt single-atoms accelerate the generation of superoxide radicals (center dot O-2(-)), which facilitate the ring-opening and deep oxidation of toluene. This understanding on the photothermal synergetic mechanism will inspire the design of highly efficient catalysts for VOCs oxidation. (c) 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.