Large-scale facile green synthesis of porous silver nanocubes on monolithic activated carbon for room-temperature catalytic oxidation of formaldehyde

Porous silver nanocubes supported on monolithic activated carbon (porous Ag/MAC) have been prepared by a novel two-step, chemical reductant-free, facile and selective process. The Ag nanocubes have been characterized using the SEM, XRD and the inner structures are revealed by the FIB-SEM technique. The growth mechanism of porous silver nanocubes on MAC is proposed based on the galvanic cell mechanism and confirmed by the characteristics of the carbon and the products at different growth stages. The porous Ag/MAC exhibits a better catalytic oxidation performance for formaldehyde removal at low temperature than bare MAC, achieving 83% formaldehyde removal with the initial concentration of 1.5 mg m −3 at 22 °C for 3 h. This better performance is attributed to the synergistic effect of adsorption, higher surface area and catalytic properties of porous silver nanocubes.