Preparation and characterisation of metal oxides supported on SBA-15 as methane combustion catalysts

Abstract A high dispersion of Co 3 O 4 and Mn 3 O 4 nanoparticles on SBA-15 mesoporous silica was carried out thanks to a two-solvent impregnation method. This kind of preparation allows a proper control of both the metal oxides loading (7 or 30 wt.%) and the particle sizes (10–12 nm). A complete set of physico-chemical characterisations of Co 3 O 4 and Mn 3 O 4 supported oxides on SBA-15 was realized using several techniques such as XRD, BET, TEM and XPS, to correlate the structures of the materials with their catalytic activities. Co 3 O 4 /SBA-15 and Mn 3 O 4 /SBA-15, 7% in weight, exhibit a high catalytic performance in the combustion of methane under Lower Explosive Limit (LEL) conditions, comparable to the well-known LaBO 3 (B = Co or Mn) perovskite-type. The efficiency of the catalysts can be explained by the organised porous meso-structure of the SBA-15. Indeed, the mesoporous support creates a confinement medium which permits a high dispersion of metal oxide nanoparticles. The Co 3 O 4 and Mn 3 O 4 nanoparticles supported on SBA-15 become therefore novel efficient combustion catalysts at low metal oxides' loading.