Rapid and large-scale synthesis of Co3O4 octahedron particles with very high catalytic activity, good supercapacitance and unique magnetic properties

Abstract

The scarcity of rapid and large scale synthesis of functional materials hinders the progress from the laboratory scale to commercial applications. In this study, we report a rapid and large scale synthesis of micron size (1.3 μm) Co₃O₄ octahedron particles enclosed by (111) facets. The octahedron particles were composed of ±25 nm rectangular/cube shaped particles as seen from the TEM images. We have characterized and evaluated the catalytic, supercapacitance and magnetic properties of the as prepared material. The Co₃O₄ octahedron particles were highly active in heterogeneous PMS activation reaction. Formation of Co–OH bonding due to water molecule dissociation on the (111) surface of the particles was evident from the ELNEFS analysis. The as prepared octahedron materials showed >4 times higher pseudocapacitance properties (182 F g⁻¹) with good capacity retention ability (up to the 1000 cycles studied) compared to commercial microcrystalline Co₃O₄ powder (43 F g⁻¹). The material showed interesting magnetic properties at low temperature. The coexistence of superparamagnetic single domain and linear/quadratic behaviours was observed at low temperature for the as prepared Co₃O₄ octahedron particles.