Catalytic Oxidation of Volatile Organic Compounds over Porous Manganese Oxides Prepared via Sol-Gel Method

In this work, a set of binary and ternary manganese-copper-iron oxides was prepared via the citrate sol-gel synthesis. This facile technique allowed the preparation of mesoporous materials with promising performances for VOC oxidation in relatively short times and at mild temperatures. The physico-chemical properties of the samples were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction analysis, N2 physisorption at −196 °C, feld emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and H2 temperature-programmed reduction. The catalytic activity of the prepared samples was evaluated in the oxidation reaction of two VOC probe molecules (i.e., ethylene and propylene). Additionally, the reproducibility of the catalytic performance over the samples was studied through the realization of consecutive VOC catalytic oxidation runs.