Solvothermal synthesis of 1D nanostructured Mn₂O₃: effect of Ni²⁺ and Co²⁺ substitution on the catalytic activity of nanowires

In this paper, cation modified one dimensional Mn₂O₃ nanowires were synthesized via a solvothermal synthesis and calcination free from the template-assisted method. The samples were characterized in detail by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XRD results revealed the homogeneity of Ni–Mn–O/Co–Mn–O solid solutions. By introducing the two different cations the Mn₂O₃ nanowires can be freely manipulated. The H₂-TPR measurement showed the enhanced reduction behaviors of the doped manganese oxide (Mn₂O₃) samples. The presence of Ni²⁺ and Co²⁺ produced lattice defects and promoted the production of oxygen vacancies, which explained the results that Ni²⁺/Co²⁺ doped Mn₂O₃ showed higher catalytic activity than the pure sample.