Selective Oxidation of Cyclohexane to Cyclohexanone and Cyclohexanol over Au/Co3O4 Catalyst

Au/Co3O4 catalysts were prepared by a co-precipitation method and characterized by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The selective oxidation of cyclohexane to cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol was investigated over Au/Co3O4 catalysts using molecular oxygen as oxidant. These catalysts showed higher activities as compared to the pure Co3O4 under the same reaction conditions.