Plasma catalysis technology has shown a great prospect in the oxidation of volatile organic compounds with a low concentration. However, low energy efficiency and large numbers of nanoparticle by-products are still the bottleneck for its practical application. Herein, a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor coupled with nano-sized Au (0.1 wt%) supported on γ-Al₂O₃ (denoted as Au/γ-Al₂O₃) was used for plasma catalytic oxidation of toluene. It was found that the energy efficiency was 89.5 g*kWh⁻¹ at 25 °C, and improved to 125.0 g*kWh⁻¹ at 250 °C. If a catalyst was not used in the DBD reactor, the by-products including benzaldehyde, phenol and benzoic acid were formed during the toluene oxidation. Those by-products can form nanoparticles which cause another risk to the atmosphere and human beings. With the use of Au/γ-Al₂O₃ nanocatalyst, the emission of nanoparticle by-products was reduced by 99.99%. Meanwhile, in-situ plasma DRIFTS analysis showed that Au-based catalysts can promote the oxidation of by-products and the gasification of carbonates to CO₂.

等离子体催化技术在低浓度挥发性有机化合物的氧化中显示出广阔的前景。然而，低能效和大量纳米粒子副产物仍是其实际应用的瓶颈。在此，介质阻挡放电（DBD）反应器与负载在γ-Al ₂ O ₃（表示为Au/γ-Al ₂ O ₃）上的纳米级Au（0.1wt%）耦合用于甲苯的等离子体催化氧化。发现25℃时的能效为89.5 g*kWh ^-1，并提高到125.0 g*kWh ^-1在 250°C。如果在 DBD 反应器中不使用催化剂，则在甲苯氧化过程中会形成包括苯甲醛、苯酚和苯甲酸在内的副产物。这些副产品会形成纳米颗粒，对大气和人类造成另一种风险。使用Au/γ-Al ₂ O ₃纳米催化剂，纳米粒子副产物的排放量减少了99.99%。同时，原位等离子体 DRIFTS 分析表明，Au 基催化剂可以促进副产物氧化和碳酸盐气化成 CO ₂。