Nanostructured Cu Doped MnCo2O4@NF catalyst for boosted solar light-driven photothermal CO-PROX reaction

Nanostructured Cu-doped MnCo₂O₄@3D nickel foam (CuMCO@NF) was synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method, which exhibited superior catalytic performance for photothermal preferential oxidation of CO than the powder CuMCO catalyst. With the support of the nickel foam, the morphology of the catalyst transforms from porous blocks of powder CuMCO catalyst to the sword-like arrayed nanostructure of CuMCO@NF, which greatly improved the light absorption of the catalyst. Under 2.5 suns, the CO conversion of 0.5CuMCO@NF with the Cu/Mn molar ratio of 0.5 reaches 90.5 % at the velocity of 60,000 mL·h^-1·g^-1. Compared to the powder samples, the nanostructured catalysts exhibited higher catalytic activity both at higher velocity and lower light intensity, which benefits from the lower mass transfer resistance and higher light absorption of the nanostructured catalysts. In addition, the stable existence of the adsorbed oxygen species in 0.5CuMCO@NF under the reaction atmosphere contributes to its superior cycling stability than powder 0.5CuMCO catalyst.