Chlorine-resistant hollow nanosphere-like vo_x /ceo₂ catalysts for highly selective and stable destruction of 1,2-dichloroethane: Byproduct inhibition and reaction mechanism

Developing economical and robust catalysts for the highly selective and stable destruction of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) is a great challenge. Here, hollow nanosphere-like VO_x /CeO₂ catalysts with different V/Ce molar ratios were fabricated and adopted for the destruction of1,2–dichloroethane (1,2–DCE). The V_0.05 Ce catalyst possessed superior catalytic activity, reaction selectivity, and chlorine resistance owing to a large number of oxygen vacancies, excellent low-temperature redox ability, and chemically adsorbed oxygen (O⁻ and O₂⁻ ) species mobility. Typical chlorinated byproducts (CHCl₃, CCl₄, C₂ HCl_3, and C₂ H₃ Cl₃ ) derived from the cleavage of C–Cl and C–C bonds of 1,2–DCE were detected, which could be effectively inhibited by the abundant acid sites and the strong interactions of VO_x species with CeO₂ . The presence of water vapor benefited the activation and deep destruction of 1,2–DCE over V_0.05 Ce owing to the efficient removal of Cl species from the catalyst surface.