Nitrogen-coordinated cobalt embedded in hollow carbon polyhedron for catalytic ozonation of odor CH3SH at ambient temperature.

[Display omitted] • Unique porous hollow carbon material with N-Co interacting with carbon nanotubes. • Electron-rich/poor reaction sites achieve efficient ozone catalysis. • Pollutants are efficiently removed: as electron donors and attacked by active species. • DFT calculation was used to reveal the catalytic mechanism. Metal − organic framework (MOF) derived carbon-based nanocatalysts have received great attention in environmental remediation applications. Herein, a hollow carbon polyhedron with nitrogen-coordinated cobalt embedded has been synthesized by thermal transformation of the core–shell structure ZIF-8@ZIF-67 (marked as ZIF-8@ZIF-67-C). Remarkably, the ZIF-8@ZIF-67-C catalyst could remove almost 98% of CH 3 SH after running for 60 min, exceeding the reported values (about 30 times higher than that of commercial MnO 2 catalysts). Elimination performance experimental results demonstrate that ZIF-8@ZIF-67-C has better anti-interference ability and anti-toxicity properties. The excellent catalytic performance can be attributed to the following facts: unique structure, high conductivity, abundant hierarchical porous structure, and accessible active sites. Theoretical calculation reveals the mechanism is that the Co-N electron bridge promotes Co nanoparticles adsorb O 3 , providing electrons to O 3 and producing 1O 2 to further oxidize CH 3 SH into CO 2 /SO 4 2−. Also, the ZIF-8@ZIF-67-C catalyst supported on Al 2 O 3 still shows excellent catalytic activity and durability, which deepened the practical application. This work provides a strategy for the development of MOF-on-MOF-derived metal/carbon hybrid materials in environmental applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]