Mn-Ferrite As a Highly Active Catalyst for Toluene Degradation in Post-Plasma Catalysis

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can pose a significant health risk to humans even at low concentrations. Non-thermal plasma (NTP) is an alternative technology to conventional thermo-catalytic methods for treating low-concentration VOCs. However, its high energy consumption and the production of toxic organic byproducts limit its application. To address these limitations, combining NTP discharge with catalysis has emerged as a promising technique which is known as post-plasma catalysis (PPC). This study aims to design energy-efficient and high-performance catalysts that are best suited to the plasma conditions. Toluene is chosen as the target VOC for decomposition in a dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor at various input power levels, and a series of Mn-ferrites catalysts with different Mn/ferrite molar ratios are used to investigate their synergistic effects on the decomposition efficiency of toluene. The results demonstrate that the Mn/Ferrite molar ratio influences the physicochemical properties of the catalyst due to its catalytic activity. Nonetheless, PPC with all catalysts enhances the decomposition efficiency of toluene at all input power levels when compared to NTP-alone. Among all catalysts, Mn1-Ferrite1 exhibits the highest decomposition efficiency of toluene at all input power levels while reducing unwanted organic products' formation. These findings promote the practical application of PPC integrated with bimetallic oxide catalysts.