Remarkable performance of atomically dispersed cobalt catalyst for catalytic removal of indoor formaldehyde.

The single atom catalysts have been widely studied in the catalytic reaction due to their 100% atomic utilization and ultra-high catalytic activity. However, the catalytic removal of formaldehyde on single atom catalysts have not been studied extensively and its catalytic mechanism is still unclear. In this work, atomically dispersed Co catalysts anchored in porous nitrogen-doped carbon were synthetized and the coordination environment of single Co atoms were further proved by the results of XAFS spectrum. The optimal atomically dispersed Co catalysts preformed outstanding removal performance for low-concentration HCHO (∼1 ppm) at room temperature. Furthermore, DFT calculations reveal the HCHO removal mechanism on atomically dispersed Co catalysts, which showed that HCHO molecules can react with O molecules adsorbed on single-atom Co sites through the Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) pathway to generate CO and HO at room temperature (HCHO → HCOO* → CO). This work provides a promising lead for exploring single-atom Co catalysts for HCHO oxidation.