Catalytic oxidation of toluene over Au–Co supported on SBA-15

•Au–Co supported on mesoporous silica materials SBA-15 was prepared.•Au and Co nanoparticles are dispersed in the mesoporous channels of SBA-15.•Au–Co/SBA-15 exhibited 100% decomposition for toluene at 573 K and 30,000 h−1.•Activation energy of Au–Co/SBA-15 was 96.06 kJ/mol (22.96 kcal/mol).

Au–Co supported on mesoporous silica materials SBA-15 was prepared with about 15 wt.% cobalt then deposition-precipitation with 2 wt.% Au. The results showed that while SBA-15 provided the long ordered arrangement of the channels for support, mixtures of cobalt oxides and gold nanoparticles are dispersed in the mesoporous channels. The sample exhibited excellent catalytic activity for toluene combustion, a complete decomposition (about 100%) of toluene had been achieved at the reaction temperature over 573 K and space velocity 30,000 h−1. The kinetics showed that the activation energy of the sample was 96.06 kJ/mol (22.96 kcal/mol) and frequency factor was 1.05 × 1010 s−1, respectively. All these results indicate that while mesoporous materials give a high surface area support for metals, cobalt offers active supports for gold particles, which might be a combined way to overcome the shortcomings of low specific area for reducible transition metal oxides and low activity for inert oxides.

Graphical abstractAu–Co supported on mesoporous silica materials SBA-15 was prepared with about 15 wt.% cobalt then deposition-precipitation with 2 wt.% Au. The sample exhibited excellent catalytic activity for toluene combustion, a complete decomposition (about 100%) of toluene had been achieved at the reaction temperature over 573 K and space velocity 30,000 h−1.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide