Construction of Pt-mTiO₂/USY multifunctional catalyst enriched with oxygen vacancies for the enhanced light-driven photothermocatalytic degradation of toluene

Light-driven thermocatalysis has emerged as an attractive approach for catalytic oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Herein, we have synthesized Pt-mTiO₂/USY nanocomposites for the catalytic degradation of toluene under full solar spectrum. The mTiO₂/USY with increasing Pt content show increased activity, among which 0.9Pt-mTiO₂ exhibits toluene conversion of 86.6% and CO₂ yield of 74.5% at 243 °C with a light intensity of 490 mW/cm² under 5 vol.% water vapor. The high catalytic performance of Pt-mTiO₂/USY can be attributed to the large surface area, strong light absorption, highly efficient conversion of light-to-heat, abundant oxygen vacancies, uniform Pt distribution, and Ti³⁺ species on the catalyst surface. The introduction of Pt nanoparticles (NPs) in mTiO₂/USY enhances light absorption and improves the mobility of surface lattice oxygen. The combination of EPR, O₂-TPD, and in situ DRIFTS analysis reveals that light irradiation further stimulates more active lattice oxygen to participate in the toluene oxidation.