The effect of heat treatment on the Co-N-C/SiO2 catalysts prepared through supported metalloporphyrin has been investigated for selective oxidation of ethylbenzene. And techniques such as BET, XRD, FT-IR, UV-vis, TEM, TG-DTA and XPS are used to explore the relationship between heat temperature and the catalytic performance of the catalysts. The results show that Co-N-C/SiO2 catalyst heated at 500 degrees C exhibits much higher activity for ethylbenzene oxidation compared with its counterparts such as Co-N-C/SiO2 catalysts heated at 300 degrees C, 400 degrees C, 600 degrees C and 700 degrees C, respectively. This may be attributed to the formation of much more Co-N-4-C active sites on the surface of Co-N-C/SiO2 catalyst heated at 500 degrees C. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.