CeO₂ nanowires self-inserted into porous Co₃O₄ frameworks as high-performance "noble metal free" hetero-catalysts

Recently, mixed metal oxides have attracted tremendous interest because of their great importance for fundamental studies and practical applications in the catalytic field to replace expensive noble metals. Herein, we report the designed synthesis of novel CeO₂-Co₃O₄ mixed metal oxides with complex nanostructures using uniform short CeO₂ nanowires self-inserted into ZIF-67 nanocrystals as precursors followed by a thermal annealing treatment. Interestingly, such a synthetic strategy can be easily extended to fabricate other CeO₂ nanowires inserted into metal oxide nanoframeworks such as NiCo₂O₄ and ZnCo₂O₄. Choosing the NO reduction reaction by CO as the catalytic model, the as-obtained CeO₂-Co₃O₄ hybrids exhibited enhanced catalytic performance, which could be attributed to the strong two-phase interaction between each component.