Fabrication of hierarchical flower-like super-structures consisting of porous NiCo2O4 nanosheets and their electrochemical and magnetic properties

Abstract

In the present work, we demonstrate a facile and cost-effective strategy for synthesizing hierarchical flower-like super-structures consisting of porous NiCo2O4 nanosheets. The morphologies and surface areas of NiCo2O4 samples can be tailored by changing the reaction time. The synthesized NiCo2O4 samples are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and by using an accelerated surface area and porosimetry analyzer (ASAP 2020M). The NiCo2O4 samples exhibit high activity and superior cycling stabilities in ORR. In addition, the magnetic properties of NiCo2O4 samples are also studied in detail. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2013.