One-pot synthesis of perovskite-type metal oxides via confined mesopore and their catalytic activity for toluene oxidation

•LaCoO3 was prepared by a one-pot synthesis via confined mesopore.•LaCoO3 had a high surface area (147 m2/g) and a small crystallite size (8 nm).•Crystallite size of LaCoO3 could be controlled by pore size of mesostructure.•LaCoO3 had a chemical state to be advantageous in toluene oxidation.•Catalytic activity for toluene oxidation showed a good correlation with surface area.

One-pot synthesis via confined mesopore using a citrate-based metal precursor was applied to obtain a perovskite-type metal oxide with a high surface area for total oxidation of toluene. The method produced LaCoO3 with a higher surface area (147 m2/g) and smaller crystallite size (8 nm) than conventional methods, such as the co-precipitation and citrate sol–gel method. The citrate-based metal precursors were inserted in the framework of mesopore and the crystallite size of LaCoO3 converted from these precursors could be adjusted with the confinement effect by mesoporous structure formed with LaCoO3 simultaneously. The catalytic activity for the total oxidation of toluene over LaCoO3 showed a good correlation with the high surface area, which was confirmed by characterization of the chemical states of LaCoO3.

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