Synthesis of mesoporous Co3O4 and their catalytic activities in propane combustion

A series of mesoporous Co 3 O 4 were prepared through a PEG-assisted soft reactive grinding route. The effects of surfactant concentration and calcination temperature on the structure and catalytic activities over Co 3 O 4 were studied. The optimized catalyst exhibited excellent activity for propane combustion with total conversion at 230 o C. Such superior property was found to be correlated with the uniform mesoporous structure and large specific surface. This work may provide a new type of mesoporous metal oxide with improved catalytic performance for hydrocarbon oxidations at low temperature.