Sodium dodecyl sulfate-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of mesoporous nickel cobaltite nanoparticles with enhanced catalytic activity for methanol electrooxidation

Mesoporous nickel cobaltite (NiCo2O4) nanoparticles have been synthesized via a facile hydrothermal strategy with the assistance of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) soft template (ST). Their physicochemical properties have been characterized via X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectra (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) and nitrogen sorption measurements. Their electrocatalytic performances have been examined by cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), chronoamperometry (CA) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests. The obtained NiCo2O4 materials exhibit a typical nanoscale crystalline hexagonal morphology with specific surface area (SSA) and mesopore volume of 88.63 m2 g−1 and 0.298 cm3 g−1. Impressively, the SDS-assisted NiCo2O4 electrode shows a catalytic current density of 125 mA cm−2 and 72% retention for consecutive 1000 s at 0.6 V in 1 M KOH and 0.5 M CH3OH electrolytes towards methanol (CH3OH) electrooxidation, which is better than the one without SDS assistance. The pronounced electrocatalytic activity is largely ascribed to their higher surface intensities of Co and Ni species and superior mesoporous nanostructures, which provide the richer electroactive sites and faster electrochemical kinetics, leading to the enhanced electrocatalytic activity.