Synthesis of hollow porous ZnCo2O4 microspheres as high-performance oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalyst

• Hollow porous ZnCo2O4 microspheres were prepared by a simple route.
• The hollow porous structure has more catalytic sites and superior ORR activity.
• The microspheres exhibits superior methanol tolerance ability and durability.

Hollow porous ZnCo2O4 microspheres have been successfully prepared by a simple solution-based assembly followed by calcination under an air atmosphere using zinc acetylacetonate Zn(C5H7O2)2 and cobalt acetylacetonate Co(C5H7O2)3 as raw materials. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Transmission electron microscope (TEM) are used to reveal the synthesis mechanism of hollow porous structure, meanwhile, BET is used to analyze the specific surface area and pore size distribution. In the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) test, hollow porous ZnCo2O4 microspheres exhibit enhanced ORR performance than bulk ZnCo2O4, mainly owing to the hollow porous structure which has more catalytic sites and higher efficiency of reactant exchange. Moreover, such catalyst also exhibits superior methanol tolerance ability and durability over commercial Pt/C catalyst.

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