γ-MnOOH Nanowires Hydrothermally Reduced by Leaves for High-Efficiency Electrocatalysis of the Glucose Oxidation Reaction

Among various manganese-based oxides or hydroxides, manganite (γ-MnOOH) has been regarded as an important participant for high-performance electrochemical energy storage and electrocatalysis. Efforts must be devoted to proposing more facile and environmentally benign synthetic routes. Herein, we have fabricated γ-MnOOH nanowires through a novel one-step hydrothermal approach with abundant biomass wastes (sapless leaves from the Magnolia grandiflora Linn tree) acting as the effective reductant. The influence of the temperature, reaction time, and content of leaves on the morphologies of the products was further investigated. In addition, the optimized γ-MnOOH nanowires demonstrate excellent electrocatalytic activity and stability for the glucose oxidation reaction (GOR), which can be ascribed to the relatively high surface area, structural integrity, and Mn (III) transitive valence state of the γ-MnOOH nanowires.