One-pot synthesis of perovskite-type metal oxides via confined mesopore and their catalytic activity for toluene oxidation

One-pot synthesis via confined mesopore using a citrate-based metal precursor was applied to obtain a perovskite-type metal oxide with a high surface area for total oxidation of toluene. The method produced LaCoO₃ with a higher surface area (147 m²/g) and smaller crystallite size (8 nm) than conventional methods, such as the co-precipitation and citrate sol-gel method. The citrate-based metal precursors were inserted in the framework of mesopore and the crystallite size of LaCoO₃ converted from these precursors could be adjusted with the confinement effect by mesoporous structure formed with LaCoO₃ simultaneously. The catalytic activity for the total oxidation of toluene over LaCoO₃ showed a good correlation with the high surface area, which was confirmed by characterization of the chemical states of LaCoO₃.