Manganese-cerium composite oxide pyrolyzed from metal organic framework supporting palladium nanoparticles for efficient toluene oxidation

Abstract Manganese-cerium metal oxide with flocculent structure prepared via the pyrolysis of Mn/Ce-MOF and supported Pd were applied for the catalytic oxidation of toluene. The Pd/Mn3Ce2-300 catalyst could completely oxidize toluene at 190 °C, which presented excellent catalytic performance. Moreover, Pd/Mn3Ce2-300 possessed great reusability, stability and water resistance even under 10 vol% water vapors. A series of characterizations including X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption-desorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and H2 temperature programmed reduction (H2-TPR) were used to investigate the physicochemical properties of the samples. It was found that Pd/Mn3Ce2-300 possessed a better reduction ability at low temperature, more surface absorbed oxygen and surface Pd species, and a strong interaction between Pd and Mn3Ce2-300, resulting in great catalytic performance for toluene degradation.