A general ligand-assisted self-assembly approach to crystalline mesoporous metal oxides

Danyang Feng, Tu Nan Gao, Meihong Fan, Ang Li, Kaiqian Li, Tao Wang, Qisheng Huo, Zhen An Qiao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mesoporous transition metal oxides with high crystallinity and large pore volumes were successfully synthesized by a widely applicable ligand-assisted self-assembly approach. In this approach, a carboxyl-containing ligand is employed as a coordination agent to retard the hydrolysis and condensation rates of the precursors. The ligands interact with the PEO chains of P123 via hydrogen bonds, which cooperatively ensures the controllable co-assembly of template micelles and the metal source during solvent evaporation. The X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and nitrogen sorption results show that the obtained mesoporous metal oxides are constructed from numerous highly crystalline nanoparticles and possess close-packed mesostructures with uniform pore size distributions. A series of mesoporous transition metal oxides (Co3O4, Mn2O3, Fe3O4, NiO, CuO, ZnO, and Cr2O3) and multi-metal oxide composite materials (Co3O4/Fe3O4, Co3O4/NiO, and Fe3O4/NiO) were successfully synthesized. By employing the crystalline Co3O4/Fe3O4 composites as electrocatalysts, high catalytic activity can be achieved during the oxygen evolution reaction. A low overpotential of 322 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 is exhibited, which shows that this approach has great significance not only in synthesis but also in electrocatalysis.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)800-809
Number of pages10
JournalNPG Asia Materials
Volume10
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2018
Externally publishedYes

Funding

This work was supported by the Young Thousand Talented Program and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21671073, 21621001, and 21671074), the “111” Project of the Ministry of Education of China (B17020), and Program for JLU Science and Technology Innovative Research Team.

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