The synthesis of porous Co3O4 micro cuboid structures by solvothermal approach and investigation of its gas sensing properties and catalytic activity

•Micro cuboid Co3O4 particle prepared by solvothermal method.•Study of morphology of synthesized cuboids before and after calcinations.•Investigation of formation mechanism of porous Co3O4 from cuboid CoCO3.•Investigation of gas sensing properties of porous Co3O4.•Study of catalytic activity of product.

The cobalt carbonate cuboids are prepared by adopting a simple solvothermal approach by using diethylene glycol and water in specific ratio as solvent. The prepared cobalt carbonate is subjected to different instrumentation to investigate its morphology and other properties. It is clear from the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) that the product is distinct cuboid in shape with a size of approximately 3 μm from each face of the cube. Each particle of cuboid cobalt carbonate seems to comprise of layer by layer assembly of unit cells that consequently leads to a cuboid geometry. The cuboid cobalt carbonate was calcined at 700 °C in a furnace under argon atmosphere that decompose cobalt carbonate into porous Co3O4 with the loosely packed arrangement of nano architectures. The gas sensing properties and catalytic activity of porous cuboids Co3O4 are also investigated.

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