Catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide aerosols using granular activated carbon coated with manganese oxides

Granular activated carbon (GAC) was coated by a uniform nanosized MnO2 layer with a thickness of 0.5 μm using a redox process in order to enhance its ability to decompose the H2O2 aerosols formed from decontamination applications. The surface characteristics of the resulting MnO2/GAC indicated that it possessed an amorphous structure with manganese of the oxidation state +4, as confirmed by SEM, EDS, XPS, SAED and BET analyses. The H2O2 aerosols decomposition activity of the new catalyst was found to be more than 20-30% higher than that of bare GAC.