Galvanic Displacement Engineered Pt/Co₃O₄-CeO₂ for High-Efficiency Toluene Elimination at Low Temperature

The release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as formaldehyde, benzene, ethylbenzene, and toluene has escalated into a critical issue due to their severe detrimental effects on both the environment and human health. In this study, we employed Co₃O₄ and CeO₂ as mixed oxide support to fabricate Pt/Co₃O₄-CeO₂ via the galvanic displacement method (Pt/CC-GD). Pt/CC-GD demonstrated the highest efficiency achieving 90% conversion at 169 °C compared to 198 °C for the nanoparticles loading method (Pt/CC-NPs), 210 °C for the wet impregnation method (Pt/CC-WI), and 244 °C for the /Co₃O₄-CeO₂ support (CC). This enhanced performance is attributed to the exceptional oxygen mobility and superior CO₂ desorption capability over Pt/CC-GD and robust interaction between Pt and the Co₃O₄-CeO₂ support. Furthermore, Pt/CC-GD demonstrated excellent catalytic durability maintaining stable activity after calcination at 700 °C for 20 h, while Pt/CC-NPs and Pt/CC-WI experienced significant activity decline under the same conditions. These results suggest that galvanic deposition is a promising synthesis technique for enhancing the efficiency of VOC catalytic removal.