Co3O4/CeO2 multi-shelled nanospheres derived from self-templated synthesis for efficient catalytic CO oxidation.

Co3O4/CeO2 multi-shelled nanospheres with various Ce/Co ratios for low temperature CO oxidation were fabricated by using a bimetallic coordination polymer as a self-sacrificial template. The obtained Co0.9Ce0.1O2-δ catalyst exhibited superior CO oxidation performance, which reached 100% conversion at 80 °C. After five-cycle tests, the conversion could also be maintained at approximately 100% with almost no activity loss. Furthermore, the effects of the CeO2 component on catalytic performance have been investigated by various advanced physicochemical characterization methods. This indicated that the addition of cerium can significantly increase the surface area, so as to enrich the oxygen vacancies and provide a higher degree of accessible active sites. This work proposed an alternative approach to construct multi-shelled nanosphere composites.