Enhanced low-temperature activity of toluene combustion over Ce-modified Co3O4 catalyst by weakening Co-O strength

In this study, a series of Ce-modified Co3O4 catalysts were prepared by co-precipitation. The influence of Ce/(Ce + Co) ratio on the catalyst microstructure and catalytic oxidation performance of toluene were systematically investigated. The results showed that introduction of Ce lead to great changes in the structure with a smaller crystallite size of Co3O4 and larger specific surface area of the catalyst. More importantly, Ce dopant can significantly weaken the Co-O bond strength and enhance the activity of oxygen species, thus improving the degradation efficiency of toluene. Due to the weakest Co-O bond strength, abundant oxygen vacancy, and the strongest reducibility of Co3+, CoCe0.05Ox catalyst exhibited the best catalytic oxidation activity of toluene (T-90 = 225 & DEG;C). In addition, CoCe0.05Ox catalyst presented good stability and repeatability during 30 h durability test under water vapor.