Restrictive nanoreactor for growth of transition metal oxides (MnO2, Co3O4, NiO) nanocrystal with enhanced catalytic oxidation activity

•Nano-casting method was used for preparing nano metal oxides (MnO2, Co3O4 and NiO).•The growth of metal oxides was limited in the restrictive nano-reactor.•The limited-growth metal oxides showed small crystal size and high surface area.•Nanometal oxides exhibited much better activity for catalytic oxidation activity.

Metal oxides like MnO2, Co3O4 and NiO were fabricated by controlling decomposition of metal salt precursor in the presence and absence of restrictive nanoreactor. The growth of oxide crystals was inhibited in restrictive space provided by hard template (nanocasting), which made the catalysts possess smaller crystal size, higher surface area and better low-temperature reducibility. Significantly, nanocasting-derived oxides (MnO2, Co3O4 and NiO) performed much better for catalytic total oxidation of benzene with T90% at 289, 253 and 355 °C, which are 125, 41 and 61 °C lower than that over the general oxides prepared by direct calcination.

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