Oxygen atom activated ZIF-67/carbon cloth in plasma system for CO reduction.

ZIF-67 was grown in situ on carbon cloth (CC) using a simple one-step method. The prepared ZIF-67/CC electrodes exhibited excellent CO reduction reaction (CORR) performance in a dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor. The highest concentrations of produced formic acid and formaldehyde were 9.16 and 0.068 mmol L at a reaction time of 1 h, respectively. The high performance is related to the unique high aspect ratio structure and pad-like cavity of ZIF-67, which results not only in an increase in the specific surface area for CO adsorption but also in the hydrophobicity of the electrode. Unexpectedly, the superoxide radical (·O) greatly affects the reduction performance of the electrode. In addition, the ZIF-67/CC electrode maintained good CORR performance in the presence of different pollutants, and the production of formic acid and formaldehyde increased to 10.81 and 0.11 mmol L at 1 h with the addition of 10 mg L phenol. This research provides new directions in the field of plasma catalysis.