Gold nanoclusters for efficient removal of organic pollutants at room temperature

Abstract

Preserving air quality of an enclosed space such as a submarine is a major challenge yet to be addressed. Currently, CO-H2 burners are employed to maintain a breathable air environment inside the submarine through catalytic conversion of contaminants being present in the air thereof into CO2 + H2O. These burners use a mixture of manganese and copper oxides referred to as hopcalite. Unfortunately, this catalyst presents a reasonable oxidation activity only above 150ºC as it suffers from strong inhibition by the presence of moisture. Furthermore, at such high operating temperatures, partial oxidation of hydrocarbons over the hopcalite may generate toxic by-products such as HF and HCl. Herein, we present a novel catalyst based on gold nanoclusters capable of eliminating massive amounts of organic pollutants at room temperature even in the presence of moisture.