Non-thermal plasma technology has great potential in reducing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) emission. But in plasma-alone process, various undesired by-products are produced, which causes secondary pollutions. Here, a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor has been developed for the oxidation of naphthalene over a TiO₂/diatomite catalyst at low temperature. In comparison to plasma-alone process, the combination of plasma and TiO₂/diatomite catalyst significantly enhanced naphthalene conversion (up to 40%) and CO_x selectivity (up to 92%), and substantially reduced the formation of aerosol (up to 90%) and secondary volatile organic compounds (up to near 100%). The mechanistic study suggested that the presence of the TiO₂/diatomite catalyst intensified the electron energy in the DBD. Meantime, the energized electrons generated in the discharge activated TiO₂, while the presence of ozone enhanced the activity of the TiO₂/diatomite catalyst. This plasma-catalyst interaction led to the synergetic effect resulting from the combination of plasma and TiO₂/diatomite catalyst, consequently enhanced the oxidation of naphthalene. Importantly, we have demonstrated the effectiveness of plasma to activate the photocatalyst for the deep oxidation of PAH without external heating, which is potentially valuable in the development of cost-effective gas cleaning process for the removal of PAHs in vehicle applications during cold start conditions.

非热等离子体技术在减少多环芳烃（PAHs）排放方面具有巨大潜力。但是在仅使用等离子体的过程中，会产生各种不良副产物，从而造成二次污染。在此，已经开发了介电势垒放电（DBD）反应器，用于在低温下在TiO ₂ /硅藻土催化剂上萘的氧化。与仅使用等离子体的方法相比，等离子体和TiO ₂ /硅藻土催化剂的组合显着提高了萘的转化率（高达40％）和CO _x选择性（高达92％），并显着减少了气溶胶的形成（高达90％）。 ％）和次要挥发性有机化合物（最高接近100％）。机理研究表明，TiO ₂的存在/硅藻土催化剂增强了DBD中的电子能量。同时，在放电中产生的激发电子激活了TiO ₂，而臭氧的存在增强了TiO ₂ /硅藻土催化剂的活性。等离子体-催化剂的相互作用导致等离子体和TiO ₂ /硅藻土催化剂的组合产生协同作用，因此增强了萘的氧化。重要的是，我们已经证明了等离子体激活光催化剂对PAH进行深度氧化而无需外部加热的有效性，这在开发经济有效的气体清洁工艺以在冷启动条件下去除车辆应用中的PAH方面具有潜在的价值。