The catalytic oxidation of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) is an important topic in environmental catalysis, but the design of highly effective catalysts remains challenging. In this work, phosphate – modified Co₃O₄ oxides gave higher activity, better durability and much lower selectivities to Cl-containing byproducts (e.g., CH₃Cl and CHCl₃) compared to the pristine Co₃O₄ in the catalytic oxidation of dichloromethane (CH₂Cl₂). Such phosphate modification created more oxygen vacancies on the Co₃O₄ and thus enhanced reducibility. On the other hand, the presence of phosphate generated abundant surface Brønsted acid sites and suppressed surface basicity. The improved performance was related to the promoted adsorption/activation of CH₂Cl₂ on the surface acid sites, and synergistically facile oxidation of the reactive intermediates by the oxygen species activated on the oxygen vacancies. Moreover, on the modified catalyst, the fast oxidation of the reaction intermediate (i.e., CH₃O-) inhibited the formation of CH₃Cl. Meanwhile, the low surface basicity of the catalyst was probably responsible to the low selectivity to CHCl₃.

氯化挥发性有机化合物（CVOCs）的催化氧化是环境催化中的一个重要课题，但高效催化剂的设计仍然具有挑战性。_{在这项工作中，与原始 Co 3} O ₄相比_，磷酸盐改性的 Co _{3 O} 4_氧化物在催化氧化二氯甲烷（CH ₂ Cl ₂）。这种磷酸盐改性在 Co ₃ O _{4上产生了更多的氧空位}从而提高还原性。另一方面，磷酸盐的存在产生了丰富的表面布朗斯台德酸位点并抑制了表面碱性。改进的性能与促进 CH ₂ Cl ₂在表面酸位上的吸附/活化，以及在氧空位上活化的氧物质协同促进活性中间体氧化有关。此外，在改性催化剂上，反应中间体（即CH ₃ O-）的快速氧化抑制了CH ₃ Cl 的形成。同时，催化剂的低表面碱度可能是导致对CHCl ₃选择性低的原因。