Morphology-controlled synthesis of Co3O4 crystals by soft chemical method

Co3O4 crystallites with various morphologies such as urchin-like morphology, spherical morphology, quasi-cubic morphology have been selectively prepared at different synthetic conditions. The as-prepared products were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Some influencing factors including reaction temperature, reaction time, different surfactant, and cobalt source on the morphologies of the final products have been discussed. In addition, the possible formation mechanism of quasi-cubic morphology of Co3O4 crystallites is also proposed based on its crystal structure and experimental results.