Porous manganese oxide synthesized through organic-electrolyte templates and their catalytic applications

We report a facile approach to the preparation of porous manganese oxide materials by the organic-electrolyte templates based on strategy. The final products are thoroughly characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) techniques. The results reveal that porosity (pore size and distribution, surface area) of these manganese oxides has strong relationship with the templates used, which implies a simple way to obtain a series of porous materials. By comparing the catalytic effects of these manganese oxides in oxidation of indene and benzyl alcohol, we find that the pore size and distribution are also crucial to the catalytic properties of these porous materials.