Synthesis of Cobalt Oxide (Co3O4) Nanoparticles for Efficient Photocatalytic Water Splitting and Hydrogen Production

This study demonstrates the simple preparation of Co₃O₄ NPs which are used as photocatalyst for the production of hydrogen. The data obtained suggested the presence of good photocatalytic properties in the prepared Co₃O₄ NPs. Further modifications to the Co₃O₄ NPs may be useful to enhance the hydrogen production rate.

Abstract

In the recent years, photocatalytic hydrogen production using nanomaterials-based photocatalysts have gained extensive attention. Various metal oxides have been widely explored in the photocatalytic hydrogen generation. It is interesting to prepare the efficient photocatalysts for photocatalytic hydrogen generation reactions. In present work, we used simple synthetic procedure for the preparation of cobalt oxide nanoparticles (Co₃O₄ NPs). The Co₃O₄ NPs were prepared using precipitation method. The surface structural features such as topological surface morphology was checked by scanning electron microscope. Presence of Co and O elements were authenticated by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The phase purity or formation of Co₃O₄ NPs was evaluated by powder X-ray diffraction approach. The optical band gap of the obtained Co₃O₄ NPs was determined by using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. Furthermore, we have explored the synthesized Co₃O₄ NPs as photocatalyst for photocatalytic hydrogen production reaction. The obtained results exhibited good photocatalytic behavior of Co₃O₄ NPs was towards hydrogen production. The hydrogen amount of 4565 μmol.g⁻¹ was produced using Co₃O₄ NPs as photocatalyst. The reusability of the Co₃O₄ NPs photocatalyst was also checked and obtained results showed that Co₃O₄ NPs is stable for reusability.

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