Stabilizing Cu+ in Mn−MIL−100 Enables Efficient Plasma–Catalytic Toluene Degradation

Non−thermal plasma (NTP)–catalytic coupling is a promising technology for controlling volatile organic compounds (VOCs), but it suffers from issues such as low degradation efficiency and a high number of by−products. Designing and preparing efficient catalysts is a key approach to addressing these issues. Here, a series of Cu+/Mn−MIL−100 catalysts with different Cu+ loads were successfully prepared by a double solvent approach (DSA) and methanol vapor reduction strategy. The results of toluene activity tests showed that 0.2Cu+/Mn−MIL−100 samples performed the best toluene degradation efficiency among these samples. When the specific input density was 536 J×L−1, the toluene removal efficiency and the selectivity of CO2 and COx reached 90.7%, 46.5% and 90.6%, respectively. In the meantime, the production of by−products such as NOx and O3 was inhibited. The catalyst characterization (such as XRD and XPS) results showed that most of the loaded Cu2+ ions were transformed to Cu+ ions. In addition, the π−complexation between Mn−MIL−100 and Cu+ ions promoted the degradation of toluene.