Hydrothermal Synthesis, Characterization, and Electrochemical Behaviour of Cobalt Oxide (Co3O4) Nanoparticles for Stable Electrode with Enhanced Supercapacitance

• Published in: Brazilian journal of physics 2022-12, Vol.52 (6), Article 211
• Main Authors: Anuradha, C. T., Raji, P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemical synthesis; Cobalt oxides; Crystal structure; Crystallites; Electrochemical analysis; Electrodes; Electrolytes; Energy bands; Energy gap; General and Applied Physics; Hydrothermal crystal growth; Nanoparticles; Optical properties; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Quantum confinement
• ISSN: 0103-9733; 1678-4448
• DOI: 10.1007/s13538-022-01214-4

The electrochemical performance of highly crystalline cobalt oxide (Co 3 O 4 ) nanoparticles is described in this work using an oxalate-assisted hydrothermal synthesis in the presence of a natural surfactant. The Co 3 O 4 nanoparticle has a cubic spinel crystal structure with a crystallite size of 39 nm as determined XRD analysis. FTIR and UV–vis spectrum methods are used to evaluate the optical and functional properties of the synthesized Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles. Due to the quantum confinement effect, the UV–vis spectrum of Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles shows a wide energy band gap of 4.78 eV, which confirms the semiconducting nature of Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles. The excellent performance is attributable to the simple accessibility of the electrolyte as well as the porous poly-pyramidal shape, which enables Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles’ volume expansion. In light of their charging and discharging behaviour, electrochemical examination of green chemical oxalate aided Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles reveals remarkable super capacitance behaviour with rapid dissemination of electrolyte ions on the electrode. These findings discover that the hydrothermally synthesized Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles are novel materials for making high-potential super capacitors.