Shape-controlled synthesis of Co3O4nanostructures derived from coordination polymer precursors and their application to the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate

Abstract

In this paper, we report a facile approach for the shape-controlled synthesis of cobalt(II)-based coordination polymer particles. Three different structures of flower-like architectures, multilayer stacked structures and nanosheets have been synthesized by varying the volume ratio of ethanol and water. Phase-pure Co₃O₄ nanocrystals have been obtained by annealing the coordination polymer particles without significant alterations in morphology. The products have been characterized by X-ray diffraction techniques, field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM). The catalytic effect was investigated for the Co₃O₄ nanocrystals with different morphology on the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) and it was found that the Co₃O₄ nanosheet has the highest catalytic activity. The surface areas of Co₃O₄ nanocrystals are measured by the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) technique and the results show that the catalytic activity of Co₃O₄ nanocrystals for the thermal decomposition of AP increases with the increase of BET surface area and pore volume.