Open AccessTemplate growth of ultrasmall Co3O4 nanoparticles: a highefficiency electrocatalyst for alkaline oxygen evolution reaction
Author(s) -
Guijuan Wei,
Zhen Zhou,
Xixia Zhao,
Changhua An
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
iop conference series. materials science and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1757-899X
pISSN - 1757-8981
DOI - 10.1088/1757-899x/612/2/022038
Subject(s) - overpotential , electrocatalyst , tafel equation , oxygen evolution , nanoparticle , spinel , catalysis , materials science , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , electrochemistry , electrode , organic chemistry , metallurgy , engineering
Co 3 O 4 , a representative spinel, has received widespread attention owing to its incomparable activity, low cost, and good stability, especially electrocatalytic performance for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). During the development of spinel synthesis, some emerging synthesis methods have been developed, and the transition from the high-temperature solid phase to the low-temperature liquid phase becomes a trend. Herein, we synthesized a class of novel small-sized Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles using ZIF-8 polyhedrons as templates. Interestingly, the achieved Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles possess smaller crystal sizes and good dispersibility, providing abundant active sites for OER reaction. When used as an OER electrocatalyst, the Co 3 O 4 -ZIF8 nanoparticles exhibit high efficiency with an overpotential of 270 mV at 1 mA cm −2 and a small Tafel slope of 82.0 mV dec −1 . This study provides new insights into the preparation of Co 3 O 4 -based nanoparticles for applications in catalysis, energy storage, and sensors.