Plasma-etched CeO₂ nanorods with rich defect sites and acidity for dichloroethane oxidation

Adjusting the structure and surface profiles of CeO₂ could significantly modify its catalytic performance for CVOCs. Herein, we reported a plasma strategy for the post-treatment of CeO₂ nanorods with more active sites to enhance 1,2-dichloroethane oxidation performance. The constructed 40P-CeO₂ catalyst exhibited superior catalytic activity (T₉₀ = 290 °C) and excellent stability (12 h at 275 °C). Experimental results revealed that the plasma treatment led to the reduction of cell parameters of CeO₂ nanorods. DFT calculation showed that the reduction of cell parameters was beneficial to the formation of oxygen vacancies. And the synergistic effect of increased oxygen vacancies and acid sites enhanced the conversion of 1,2-dichloroethane and reduced the formation of chlorinated organic by-products. This work identifies the effect of the DBD plasma treatment over these activated catalysts for CVOCs catalytic combustion and could provide a novel and universal strategy for the synthesis of highly active and stable catalysts.