Low-temperature combustion of methane over graphene templated Co₃O₄ defective-nanoplates

Transition metal oxides are the potential catalysts to replace noble-metal based catalyst for the catalytic combustion of methane due to the tolerable reactivity and low cost. However, these catalysts are challenged by the low temperature reactivity. Herein, the surface defective Co₃O₄ nanoplates are realized through a facile co-precipitation and thermal reduction method with the association of GO. The resultant catalysts (CoGO50) demonstrate a superior low-temperature reactivity for the methane oxidation to CO₂ and H₂O in comparison with the common Co₃O₄ catalyst. The reliable stability of CoGO50 catalyst was proved by 80 h testing with intermittent feeding of water vapor. The experimental analysis demonstrates that the presence of a small amount of GO significantly affects the catalysts in surface valence state, active oxygen species and surface oxygen vacancies through reacting with the cobalt oxide as a reductant. Moreover, GO plays as 2D confine template to form smaller and thinner nanoplates. This work provides a facile method to control the surface properties of catalyst not only for Co₃O₄ based catalysts but also for wider solid catalysts.