ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Porous Co₃O₄ nanospheres synthesized via solution combustion method for supercapacitors

Anjum Afrooze and Dadamiah P. M. D. Shaik

Department of Chemistry, Career Point University, Kota, Rajasthan, India

E-mail: rahilsp@gmail.com

Received: 21 July 2022  Accepted: 3 October 2022

Abstract:

Solution combustion method is a low-cost, simple, fast and productive technique for the synthesis of nanosized particles, and therefore, it has been used for the production of a variety of fine complex oxide powders for several advanced applications, including catalysts, fuel cells and energy storage. In this study, porous cobalt oxide nanospheres have been successfully synthesized by combustion method using cobalt nitrate hexahydrate (Co (NO₃)₂.6H₂O) and urea (NH₂CONH₂) as precursors at low temperature. The microstructural, dielectric, magnetic and electrochemical properties of the prepared cobalt oxide nanospheres are studied. The XRD spectra exhibited (220), (311), (222), (400), (422), (511), (440) orientations which corresponds to cubic structure of Co₃O₄ with Fd \(\bar 3\) m (227) space group. The crystallite size is estimated using Scherrer’s formula and is found to be 8 nm. The SEM analysis reveals the appearance of spherical grains with an average grain size of 30 nm and variable pores of 7 nm in size. The presence of cobalt–oxygen bonding and the microstructure of the synthesized sample are confirmed from the Raman and FTIR studies. The dielectric studies show that the dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the sample decrease with frequency. The magnetic modules show the ferromagnetic nature of Co₃O₄ nanospheres. The supercapacitive behavior of Co₃O₄ nanospheres in 1 M KOH aqueous electrolyte shows a high specific capacitance of 182 Fg⁻¹ at a current density of 0.5 Ag⁻¹ and good electrochemical stability even after 2000 cycles.

Keywords: Porous Co3O4 nanospheres; Solution combustion method; Specific capacitance; Aqueous electrolytes

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-022-02535-z

Chemical Papers 77 (2) 1201–1211 (2023)