Complete oxidation of benzene with cobalt oxide and ceria using the mesoporous support SBA-16

• SBA-16 and CoCe/SBA-16 structures are characteristic of a cubic Im3m symmetry.
• A highly regular mesoporous structure, high SBET and Dv exist in the catalysts.
• Addition of ceria can greatly improve the oxidation properties compared to Co/SBA-16.
• CoCe(18:1)/SBA-16 exhibits the highest catalytic activity for benzene oxidation at 265 °C.

In this investigation, SBA-16 was used to support metal (M = Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu) oxides and ceria catalysts for the complete oxidation of benzene. The influence of a ceria promoter on the structure of SBA-16 and the catalytic performance of Co/SBA-16 were investigated. Mesoporous SBA-16 was found to have high surface area (472.1 m2/g) and large pore volume (0.69 cm3/g). The mesoporous, cage-like structure of SBA-16 was maintained throughout the preparation of CoCe supported catalysts. The addition of ceria promoted the reduction of cobalt oxide at a lower temperature and greatly affected its catalytic activity. These effects could be attributed to the good dispersion of Co3O4 on SBA-16 and the strong interaction between Co3O4 and CeO2. Catalysts with appropriate Ce greatly enhanced the activity of Co/SBA-16 for complete benzene oxidation; the catalyst CoCe(18:1)/SBA-16 exhibited the highest activity at 265 °C. The high catalytic activity can likely be attributed to the high dispersion of Co3O4 on SBA-16, the high SBET, and the strong interaction between Co3O4 and CeO2.

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