Engineering defective Co3O4 containing both metal doping and vacancy in octahedral cobalt site as high performance catalyst for methane oxidation

Abstract

Advanced defective structure in Co3O4 catalyst plays a vital role in the boost of catalytic oxidation activity. In this study, a rational defects engineering strategy was developed by precise implanting Ce and Al in the octahedral site of Co3O4, followed by the partial de-doping of the Al atoms. Distorted crystal, abundant oxygen vacancies, higher specific surface area are synergistically incubated by the dual dopants combined with the metal vacancies. The Co3+O bond could be significantly stimulated to guarantee an excellent methane oxidation activity, with methane conversion rate more than 1.5 times compared with the original Co3O4 catalyst at 300 °C. This work exemplifies the importance of accurate multi-defects manipulation in Co3O4 for intrinsic oxidizability improvement.