Article Title

Facile carbonaceous microsphere templated synthesis of Co₃O₄ hollow spheres and their electrochemical performance in supercapacitors

Authors

Hongmei Du, Institute of New Energy Material Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (MOE), Tianjin Key Lab of Metaland Molecule-based Material Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
Lifang Jiao, Institute of New Energy Material Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (MOE), Tianjin Key Lab of Metaland Molecule-based Material Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
Qinghong Wang, Institute of New Energy Material Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (MOE), Tianjin Key Lab of Metaland Molecule-based Material Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
Jiaqin Yang, Institute of New Energy Material Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (MOE), Tianjin Key Lab of Metaland Molecule-based Material Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
Lijing Guo, Institute of New Energy Material Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (MOE), Tianjin Key Lab of Metaland Molecule-based Material Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
Yuchang Si, Institute of New Energy Material Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (MOE), Tianjin Key Lab of Metaland Molecule-based Material Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
Yijing Wang, Institute of New Energy Material Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (MOE), Tianjin Key Lab of Metaland Molecule-based Material Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
Huatang Yuan, Institute of New Energy Material Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (MOE), Tianjin Key Lab of Metaland Molecule-based Material Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China

Keywords

hydrothermal carbonization, calcination, hollow spheres, adsorption, supercapacitors

Abstract

ABSTRACT Co3O4 hollow spheres assembled from nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized by a one-pot hydrothermal carbonization and calcination method. In this method, carbon spheres obtained through hydrothermal carbonization at a low temperature of 140 °C are used as sacrificial templates. The carbonization process was monitored by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Raman spectroscopy. Both the carbon sphere soft templates and the NH3 released from hexamethylenetetramine play key roles in the formation of these novel hollow structures. The formation of the Co3O4 hollow spheres using hydrothermal carbon spheres as templates can be attributed to the synergetic effect of metal ion adsorption and heterogeneous nucleation of Co(OH)2, which is different from the traditional adsorption theory. The as-obtained Co3O4 hollow microspheres exhibit excellent cycling performance and good rate capacity when used as electrode materials in supercapacitors, which can be attributed to the small particle size of Co3O4 and the sufficient space available to interact with the electrolytes. This facile strategy may be extended to synthesize other metal oxide hollow spheres, which may find application in sensors and catalysts due to their unique structural features.

Graphical Abstract

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-012-0283-5

Publisher

Tsinghua University Press

Recommended Citation

Hongmei Du,Lifang Jiao,Qinghong Wang,Jiaqin Yang,Lijing Guo,Yuchang Si,Yijing Wang,Huatang Yuan, Facile carbonaceous microsphere templated synthesis of Co3O4 hollow spheres and their electrochemical performance in supercapacitors. NanoRes.2013, 6(2): 87–98