Catal. Commun.

2011, 12,

Silylated Co3O4-mesoporous SiO2 catalysts were prepared by a surface organic modification to understand the influence of a hydrophobic surface on their performance in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FT'S). Fourier transform infra-red (FT-IR) spectra showed that the reaction of the surface silanol groups with hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) took place effectively, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicated that such a modification did not affect Co3O4 crystallite size. Furthermore, hydrogen temperature programmed reduction (H-2-TPR) illustrated a higher extent of reduction for silylated Co3O4-m-SiO2 catalysts. As a result, such a silylated core-shell structured Co catalyst showed the higher catalytic activity and better selectivity towards C-5-C-18 fraction than the unsilylated Co3O4-m-SiO2 catalyst in the FTS, which was likely favorable to the internal transportation and their hydrophobic shell. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.