In-situ reconstruction of LaCoO3-Co3O4 hetero-interface over lanthanum modified Co3O4 nanocatalyst for improved catalytic activity and sintering resistance in methane combustion

Nanoparticles-based catalysts still suffer from deactivation due to sintering and structural collapse through long-time running at high reaction temperature. Developing simple strategy for improving the sintering resistance of nanoparticles is of great importance for fabrication of durable heterogeneous catalysts. In this work, lanthanum was used to prevent Co3O4 nanoparticles from sintering with restricting growth of nanocrystals by in-situ generation of LaCoO3 perovskite phase during thermal ageing process, further building LaCoO3-Co3O4 hetero-interface with strong interfacial effect. Specifically, the Co3O4 nanocatalyst was loaded with different amount of La by traditional impregnation method and a series of characterizations were carried out to explore the physical and chemical properties of the as-prepared catalysts, including XRD, Raman, BET, SEM, HRTEM, XPS, H2-TPR and O2-TPD. It was found that 5 wt% La-Co3O4 has the highest catalytic activity in CH4 combustion and the value of T90 (temperature of 90% methane conversion) between fresh and aged was only 9 ºC, while this value was 108 ºC over pure Co3O4 sample. The Raman, XPS, H2-TPR and O2-TPD results exhibited that the synergistic effect between Co3O4 and LaCoO3 could not only induce lattice distortion in Co3O4 with more defects and adsorbed oxygen species, enhanced oxygen mobility and reducibility, but also significantly suppress the growth of Co3O4 nanocrystals during thermal ageing treatment.