Synthesis of spinel cobalt oxide nanoparticles using a modified polymeric precursor method

• Spinel cobalt oxide nanoparticles were synthesized.
• The synthesis involves olation/chelation of a water soluble polymer and Co2+.
• Very crystalline and regular cubic structures were obtained.
• The method is fast and no requires the aging step.
• The olate/quelate decomposes in a relatively low temperature (480 °C).

Metal oxide nanoparticles have been raising increasing interest. In this work, spinel cobalt oxide (Co3O4) nanoparticles of around 29 nm were synthesized using a modified polymeric precursor method. This method is based on the complexation of polyacrylate and cobalt ions in aqueous media by a chelation reaction, resulting in the synthesis of crystalline nanoparticles, confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Some advantages of this technique are the fast, simple and efficient synthesis of nanoparticles after only 2 h of thermal decomposition at 480 °C and elimination of the aging step, which is an essential step in polymeric precursor-based methods such as sol–gel.

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