Application of Co3O4 Nanofibers as Hydrogen Evolution Electrodes for Fuel Cells

Among the several renewable modes of energy sources, fuel cells are considered to be the most promising source of energy. Introduction of fuel cells was a breakthrough in the history of environmental benign energy applications. The high capital cost of essential components required for the fuel cells has reduced the initial attention received by them, but, by the introduction of nanosized materials reinstated the interest in fuel cells. Stable nanomaterials, especially, nanosized metal oxides can be potential materials for electrodes in the aforementioned application. Electrospinning combined with sol-gel processing is the most suitable technique for the fabrication of high aspect ratio oxide nanofibers. In sol-gel assisted electrospinning process, a sol containing a metal salt (cobalt acetate) and polymer (poly (styrene-co-acrylonitrile), SAN) in a suitable solvent (N, N-dimethylformamide, DMF) was used for the fabrication of xerogel fibers followed by calcination above the degradation temperature of the polymer. Co3O4 nanofibers were characterized using SEM, TEM, FTIR, XRD, UV-Vis-NIR, Raman, XPS, BET surface area, etc. From SEM and TEM analysis, it was observed that the Co3O4 nanofibers were composed of a large number of nanosized grains and the complete elimination of organic phases was ensured with the help of XRD and FTIR analysis. The graphite rods loaded with these nanofibers were in turn used as electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution from water.