Nano-Au supported on CeO2 for plasma catalytic degradation of n-undecane: Enhancement of activity and stability

n -Undecane (C11) is a typical alkane pollutant, accounting for 6 % of the total volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from the printing industry in China. A dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor coupled with a catalyst of abundant oxygen vacancies prepared by Au nanoparticles 100 % loading on CeO 2 was developed for the plasma catalytic degradation of C11. Compared with CeO 2 , CeO 2 /γ-Al 2 O 3 , Au/γ-Al 2 O 3 , and Au/CeO 2 /γ-Al 2 O 3 , Au/CeO 2 exhibited significantly higher C11 oxidation performance with 98.8 % C11 conversion and 97.9 % COx selectivity. The strong interaction between nanosized Au and CeO 2 enhanced the ratios of Ce 3+ /(Ce 3+ +Ce 4+ ) and Au + /(Au + +Au 0 ), resulting in the formation of abundant oxygen vacancies with the highest band gap energy, which facilitated C11 oxidation. In addition, the reservation of reactive oxygen species generated by gas discharges on Au/CeO 2 catalyst synergistically promoted C11 complete oxidation, thus improving the oxidation stability within 600 min with stable C11 conversion and COx selectivity. This work presents an effective strategy to regulate the performance of catalysts for VOCs oxidation, and demonstrates that the plasma catalytic degradation of VOCs is feasible.