Synthesis of Cu2O nanoparticles via self-exothermic reaction for highly efficient ozone decomposition

Abstract

Ground-level ozone is a typical atmospheric pollutant, making the development of efficient and stable ozone degradation technologies highly important. In this study, a self-exothermic reaction was utilized to successfully achieve kilogram-scale synthesis of nanocrystalline Cu₂O, using high-concentration ascorbic acid aqueous solution and solid Cu(OH)₂ as the precursors. Experimental results show that when the concentration of ascorbic acid is 0.77 mol L⁻¹, the obtained catalyst exhibits an ozone conversion rate of up to 98% at 25 °C at a high space velocity of 960 000 mL g⁻¹ h⁻¹, along with good moisture resistance and low-temperature stability. Furthermore, after processing the powder catalyst into a structured monolithic catalyst, the ozone removal rate remains above 92% at a high space velocity of 48 000 h⁻¹. Characterization analyses indicate that the high catalytic activity originates from the abundant defect structures and oxygen vacancies introduced during the self-exothermic synthesis process, which significantly increases the number of active sites. This study presents a simple and efficient method for large-scale production of high-performance Cu₂O catalysts, demonstrating broad application prospects in ozone pollution control.