Copper manganese
oxides (CMO) with CuMn2O4 composition are well-known
catalysts, which are widely used for
the oxidative removal of dangerous chemicals, e.g., enhancing the
CO to CO2 conversion. Their catalytic activity is the highest,
close to those of the pre-crystalline and amorphous states. Here we
show an easy way to prepare a stable CMO material at the borderline
of the amorphous and crystalline state (BAC-CMO) at low temperatures
(<100 °C) followed annealing at 300 °C and point out
its excellent catalytic activity in CO oxidation reactions. We demonstrate
that the temperature-controlled decomposition of [Cu(NH3)4](MnO4)2 in CHCl3 and
CCl4 at 61 and 77 °C, respectively, gives rise to
the formation of amorphous CMO and NH4NO3, which
greatly influences the composition as well as the Cu valence state
of the annealed CMOs. Washing with water and annealing at 300 °C
result in a BAC-CMO material, whereas the direct annealing of the
as-prepared product at 300 °C gives rise to crystalline CuMn2O4 (sCMO, 15–40 nm) and ((Cu,Mn)2O3, bCMO, 35–40 nm) mixture. The annealing temperature
influences both the quantity and crystallite size of sCMO and bCMO
products. In 0.5% CO/0.5% O2/He mixture the best CO to
CO2 conversion rates were achieved at 200 °C with
the BAC-CMO sample (0.011 mol CO2/(m2 h)) prepared
in CCl4. The activity of this BAC-CMO at 125 °C decreases
to half of its original value within 3 h and this activity is almost
unchanged during another 20 h. The BAC-CMO catalyst can be regenerated
without any loss in its catalytic activity, which provides the possibility
for its long-term industrial application.