In Situ Growth Route To Fabricate Ternary Co–Ni–Al Mixed-Metal Oxide Film as a Promising Structured Catalyst for the Oxidation of Benzyl Alcohol

Currently, designing high-performance structured catalysts is full of significance for economic and sustainable production of chemicals due to the catalysts easy separation and recovery and excellent heat/mass transfer characteristics. Herein, we reported the synthesis of a ternary Co–Ni–Al mixed-metal oxide (CoNiAl-MMO) film with surface intercrossed and vertically aligned nanoplatelets via an in situ growth route. CoNiAl-MMO film exhibited greatly enhanced catalytic performance in the oxidation of benzyl alcohol, compared with binary MAl-MMO films (M = Co or Ni) and pristine CoNiAl-MMO powder. The improved catalytic efficiency was attributable to a synergistic effect between highly dispersed active Co and Ni species, as well as the presence of more surface oxygen vacancies. Moreover, the film possessed extremely high structural stability stemming from the strong interaction between the CoNiAl-MMO layer and the substrate. Such type of structured non-noble-metal film catalyst may have potential industrial applications in a broad range of heterogeneous catalysis systems in the future.