Cobalt(II,III) oxid (Co3O4) nanostructures have been successfully synthesized using [Co(NH3)6]Cl3 and
[Co(en)3]Cl3 (en: ethylenediamine) as the single precursors via hydrothermal method, and CoCl2$6H2O
through a facile ammonia-assisted approach. Indeed, ammine and en ligands, as well as ammonia vapor,
act as the sources of hydroxide ion in the preparation of Co3O4 nanoparticles. The structure of products
was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy
and their morphologies were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The optical study of the
as-prepared Co3O4 nanostructures using UVeVis diffused reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) exhibited their
semiconducting property by revealing one optical band gap in 3.3 eV. Moreover, the vibrating sample
magnetometry (VSM) measurements showed a weak ferromagnetic behavior that could be attributed to
uncompensated surface spins and/or finite-size effects. Further, the effects of the nature of the precursor,
its concentration, temperature and reaction time on the size and morphology of the samples were
studied in detail.
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