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 Mn n+ into Co 3 O 4 , 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 (Mn 3+ and Mn 4+ ) 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 MnO x or Co 3 O 4 . The Mn 5 Co 5 sample showed the best activity with T 90% for benzene conversions into CO 2 were low to 237 °C at a high space velocity of 120,000 mL g −1 h −1 . Graphical Abstract