Synthesis and electrocatalytic activities of Co3O4 nanocubes

In this article, a hydrothermal method was developed to synthesize Co3O4 nanocubes using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as oxidant, Co(NO3)(2)center dot 6H(2)O as a cobalt source. The products are characterized in detail by multiform techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that the obtained products are Co3O4 nanocubes with size ranging between 20 and 40 nm. The effects of the hydrogen peroxide concentration on the size of the products have been studied. The electrocatalytic activities of H2O2 reduction on Co3O4 nanocubes in phosphate buffer were also evaluated.