Realizing a redox-robust Ag/MnO2 catalyst for efficient wet catalytic ozonation of S-VOCs: Promotional role of Ag(0)/Ag(I)-Mn based redox shuttle

A novel process for S-VOCs degradation using wet scrubbing coupled with catalytic ozonation was developed for first time. We report redox-robust catalysts consisting of Ag(0)/Ag(I) species decorated rambutan-like MnO2 hollow microspheres (Ag/R-MnO2) with strong metal-metal oxide interaction (MMOI) exhibited superior catalytic ozonation performance for CH3SH elimination. The optimum Ag/R-MnO2 reached a significant improvement in CH3SH elimination of 96.9% conversion over pristine R-MnO2 under GHSV of 75,000 mL h-1 g-1, and O3 utilization rate of 92.3%. An outstanding stability of Ag/R-MnO2 under wet catalytic ozonation process was demonstrated, which outperformed that in gaseous system. CH3SH was captured by aqueous solution and preferentially chemisorbed on Ag, then deeply oxidized to the final products of SO42-/CO32- via catalytic ozonation by multivalent R-MnO2. The excellent performance can be ascribed to efficient electron replenishing interaction between Ag(0)/Ag(I) and multivalent R-MnO2, efficient O3 activation through oxygen vacancies-rich R-MnO2, and enhanced mass diffusion in wet scrubbing process.