Synthesis of Co-Fe Alloy 1D Nanocone Array Electrodes with Aluminum Oxide Template for Water Spliting Reaction.

Abstract

Nanostructured materials have an enormous application potential because of their novel physical and chemical properties which appear upon reduction of the length scales toward a few nanometer. Among the nano-structured materials, nano-cone arrays have received particular attention in the last years. Due to their specific structure and properties, nano-cones are attractive for very different applications. Producing and designing proper nano-crystalline structures could further improve the catalytic properties and replace expensive precious metals (platinum). Hence, the fabrication of Co alloy nano-cones opens the window to promising applications in the field of electrocatalysis Porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) is a popular template for synthesis of ordered arrays of nanostructured materials. By the controlling of anodization conditions or applying an appropriate post-anodization treatment the internal pore structure can be changed. Conical pores can be obtained basing on alternating repetition of the anodization and pore widening process during fabrication of AAO. To obtain free standing metallic nanocones the Al2O3 template was chemically etched in dilute phosphoric acid solution. In this case the process of cobalt electrodeposition was carried out in a two-electrode cell. The working electrode was AAO sample, the anode was a platinum plate. Influence of temperature and H3PO4 and H2SO4 solutions in the first step of anodization was examined. An attempt was made to synthesize Co based alloy nanocones. Acknowledgement This work was financially supported by Polish National Science Center (NCN) under grant UMO-2016/23/G/ST5/04058. The authors would like to acknowledge the COST MP1407 Action for networking.