Synthesis And Photocatalytic Ability For Water Splitting On CO₃O₄Nanoparticles

In recent years, with the increasingly serious energy shortage problem, hydrogenproduced from photocatlytic splitting water has attracted much attention. Narrow band gapsemiconductor cobalt oxide caused much attention because of its excellent physical andchemical properties in the photolysis of water. But due to its preparation techniques are oftenmore complex and the preparation process is unacceptable for environment pollution, it isdifficult to industrialize. Herein, we used a facile and simple one-pot carbon assisted methodto produce the cobalt oxide nanoparticles with uniform morphology and high photocatalyticactivity without any pollution.The cobalt oxide nanoparticles were prepared via degreasing cotton which was regardedas dispersant and carbon source. The Co(NO3)2was regarded as the cobalt source and then theprecursor was annealed in the oxygen atmosphere at high temperature. The influence ofannealing time, temperature, the degreasing cotton and finally the mechanism in preparationof Co3O4was analyzed, respectively. A series of characterization techniques, such as SEM,TEM, XRD and other test methods were employed. The characterization results show thatwhen the temperature was600℃while the calcination time was2h, and the degreasingcotton was added, we can successfully prepare the Co3O4nanoparticle with ca.50nm, a highspecific surface area and broad absorption spectrum. Through Fourier transform infraredspectroscopy results, we can get the result that the degreasing cotton plays an important rolein the process of preparation of Co3O4.The optimal amount of Co3O4for photocatalytic hydrogen production was researched.And then the photocatalytic properties of Co3O4was tested, the test results show that theresultant Co3O4has higher photocatalytic hydrogen production activity compared to Co3O4without addition of degreasing cotton. Finally even under visible light or pure water theCo3O4still has photoctalytic ability for hydrogen and the photocatalyst has a decentperformance on recycling ability.