Harvesting the vibration energy of α-MnO2 nanostructures for complete catalytic oxidation of carcinogenic airborne formaldehyde at ambient temperature

Vibration is one of the most prevalent energy sources in natural environment, which can also be harvested and utilized to drive chemical reaction. Herein, mechanical vibration is used for enhancing the catalytic decomposition of formaldehyde at ambient temperature with the assistance of four well-defined morphologies α-MnO2 (nanowire, nanotube, nanorod and nanoflower). In particular, α-MnO2 nanowire exhibits the best catalytic activity, which can completely mineralize formaldehyde into carbon dioxide at ambient temperature by harvesting the vibration energy. To the best of our knowledge, this may be the first report that α-MnO2, as a non-noble metal catalyst, can completely decompose formaldehyde to carbon dioxide at ambient temperature. The characterization results show that α-MnO2 nanowire has a much higher oxygen vacancy concentration than other three catalysts. In addition, thermal effect generated from friction between nanoparticles induced by ultrasonic vibration may enhance its catalytic activity. More importantly, it is the vibration that effectively promotes the activation of O2 adsorbed on the surface oxygen vacancy to produce more ▪, thus increasing the catalytic decomposition performance. The strategy presented herein demonstrates a new approach for efficient use of mechanical vibration to improve catalytic activity of traditional catalysts. [Display omitted] •The α-MnO2 nanowire achieve the complete catalytic oxidation of HCHO at ambient temperature by harvesting the vibration energy.•Thermal effect generated from friction between nanoparticles induced by vibration can enhance catalytic activity.•Vibration can effectively promote the activation of O2 and production of •O2− in oxygen vacancy sites.