Low platinum alloy catalyst PtCo3 obtaining high catalytic activity and stability with great water and CO2 resistance for catalytic oxidation of toluene

The PtCo 3 nanoparticles (NPs of 2–5 nm) were synthesized by the organic phase reduction method and the PtCo 3 -C samples were obtained by physically loading the bimetallic NPs on the carbon black. The catalytic activity and stability of PtCo 3 -C for toluene oxidation under different reaction conditions were studied. The PtCo 3 -C can completely oxidize and decompose 1000 ppm toluene at 238 ℃ for at least 120 h, which has excellent low-temperature catalytic activity and thermal stability. In addition, PtCo 3 -C displays a great water and CO 2 resistance when 3.5 to 20 vol% water vapor (at least 110 h) or 3.5 to 10 vol% CO 2 (at least 60 h) is introduced into the reaction gas at 238 ℃. Moreover, the adsorption energy of toluene (−73.68 kJ mol −1 ) is much higher than that of water (−24.5 kJ mol −1 ) and CO 2 (−37.56 kJ mol −1 ), which were calculated by the density functional theory (DFT). Furthermore, catalytic mechanism of the oxidation of toluene over the PtCo 3 -C catalyst was also proposed. This study presents a good catalyst candidate obtaining high catalytic activity and stability with great water and CO 2 resistance for the removal of toluene.