Monodispersible Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles were prepared via a facile solvothermal route using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as capping agent and the porous silica shell was then coated by means of the Stöber process to fabricate Co 3 O 4 @porous-SiO 2 (Co 3 O 4 @p-SiO 2 ) nanocomposites. The particle size of Co 3 O 4 and porous silica shell thickness of Co 3 O 4 @p-SiO 2 nanocomposites could be easily controlled through changing the amount of PVP and tetraethoxysilane, respectively. The high resolution transmission electron microscopy results, together with the X-ray diffraction results, indicated that monodispersible Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles were successfully prepared and uniformly encapsulated by porous silica. During the growth of silica shell, the PVP was trapped and dispersed in the silica shell. As a result, the porous silica shell was obtained after burning off the PVP and a positive correlation existed between the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of the porous silica shell and quantity of PVP in the original Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles. Compared with the Co/SiO 2 reference catalyst, CO conversion of the Co@p-SiO 2 model catalyst was more stable and higher in a period of 240 h, and hydrocarbon selectivity towards C 5 -C 18 fraction was also higher than that of the Co/SiO 2 catalyst. The results of analysis for the Co@p-SiO 2 catalyst showed that core@shell structure could maintain high dispersion of Co particles so as to provide higher number of Co active sites, and enhance selectivity towards C 5 -C 18 fraction due to confined structure of porous channel in the silica shell.