Fe2O3 nanoparticles with a mean size of similar to 1 nm were evenly distributed inside the mesoporous Al2O3 with a diameter of 1 mm using temperature-regulated chemical vapor deposition (TR-CVD), in which Fe(Cp)(2) vapor and air were use as metal precursor and oxidizing agent, respectively. For comparison, NiO/Al2O3 was prepared by a similar method using Ni(Cp)(2) vapor as Ni precursor, and the resulting structure showed NiO nanoparticles decorating only the shell part of the Al2O3 bead with a shell depth of similar to 50 mu m. After post-annealing of these samples under air at 450-750 degrees C, these structures were used as catalysts for oxidation of toluene in the reaction temperature range of 150-350 degrees C. Fe2O3/Al2O3 showed significantly higher catalytic activity than NiO-based catalysts, which can be attributed to the unique structure of Fe2O3/Al2O3, i.e., very small catalytically active nanoparticles are distributed inside the entire structure of the mesoporous supporting material. 100% conversion of toluene into CO2 with a long-term stability of the catalytic activity was realized at 350 degrees C using Fe2O3/Al2O3 under both dry and humid conditions with a toluene concentration of 10,000 ppm in the feed gas. It is worth noting that the unique structure of the Fe2O3/Al2O3 is stable after air-post-annealing at 750 degrees C. Our Fe2O3/Al2O3 catalysts are active for toluene oxidation, and stable upon annealing at high temperature, showing that one can use our Fe2O3/Al2O3 as a component of catalytic converter of harmful volatile organic compounds. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.