One-pot solvothermal synthesis of highly dispersed, morphology- and crystal structure-tunable copper-manganese oxide for catalytic combustion of toluene at low temperatures

Copper-manganese composite oxide (CuMnOx) catalyst was prepared through an improved solvothermal reduction by short-chain dopamine (DA) with catechol structure for catalytic oxidation of toluene. The catalyst possessed the properties of controllable morphology, adjustable size, high dispersion and excellent catalytic activity. The regular hexagonal, square and spherical crystal particles with different crystal structures were synthesized by adjusting the molar ratio of copper and manganese during the reaction. Further investigation of the performance indicated that CuMnOx−1 (Cu:Mn = 1:1) had high catalytic combustion activity with low temperatures of T50 (205 ℃) and T90 (221 ℃). Meantime, it has favorable stability with the basically unchanged conversion efficiency in 60 h of continuous testing.