Synergistic Effects in Porous Mn-Co Mixed Oxide Nanorods Enhance Catalytic Deep Oxidation of Benzene

A series of Mn-Co mixed oxide nanorods with homogeneous worm-like pores were facilely prepared by a sol-gel chelating method. With incorporating Mnn+ into Co3O4, the formation of solid solution with spinel structure inhibits the growth of nanoparticles which is benefit to keep smaller crystal size and higher surface area. XPS and H-2-TPR results indicate that there are more high manganese valence (Mn3+ and Mn4+) and adsorbed oxygen species as well as low-temperature reducibility for the mixed oxide catalysts, as a result of the strong synergistic effect between Mn and Co species in solid solution, which will play a key role in catalytic activity. The as-prepared catalysts were used for catalytic deep oxidation of benzene which is a typical carcinogenic VOC. The catalytic activities over the mixed oxides with varied mole ratio are much higher than that on the single MnOx or Co3O4. The Mn5Co5 sample showed the best activity with T-90% for benzene conversions into CO2 were low to 237 A degrees C at a high space velocity of 120,000 mL g(-1) h(-1).