Porous cobalt oxide prepared using various surfactants for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR)

초록

Fuel cell and rechargeable batteries have been considered to be a promising green energy generation technology for future energy storage system. Although platinum and its alloys are the most efficient catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), its high cost and low abundance compared with other transition metals limits their practical applications [1, 2]. Currently, cobalt oxide is a promising candidate as electrode material for ORR due to the low cost, high capacity and various oxidation state [3]. Herein, porous cobalt oxide was synthesized by precipitation method using cobalt nitrate as precursor. In order to make porous structure, surfactants were added as a templating agent. Crystallinity of cobalt oxide was characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), and the composition of the sample was measured by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The morphology and surface property were obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Electrocatalytic activity of the prepared electrodes was evaluated using rotating disk electrode (RDE).