Title: Green energy production by non-photocatalytic water splitting using Co3O4 and use in supercapacitor

Abstract

The generation of electricity from water molecules dissociation without going through any photo catalytic route i.e., hydroelectric power cell has opened up a new field of green energy generation that is environmentally friendly. Water dissociation has already been shown at ambient temperature using specially tailored nanoporous and oxygen-deficient metal oxides. We have acquired oxygen defect and strain induced Co3O4 by heat treatment in muffle furnace. XRD, FTIR and FE-SEM confirms formation of compound, porosity and size of particles. Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), EPR and XPS verified the oxygen vacancy created. BET confirms porosity and provide surface area and pore size distribution of Co3O4 synthesized. The acid base pair formed by the cation– oxygen vacancy pair on the Co3O4 surface attracts polar water molecules, causing them to chemidissociate into OH- and H3O+ ions. Furthermore, chemisorbed surface hydroxyl ions give a high surface charge potential for the dissociation of physisorbed multilayers of water molecules, and some H3O+ ions become trapped inside the nanopores. The trapped ions inside the nanopores provide enough potential for adsorbed water molecules to physi-dissociate further. As a hydroelectric cell, a round pellet with a diameter of 3.5 cm and a thickness of 1 mm of Co3O4 was created. This cell of 1.75 cm radius produced open circuit voltage (Voc) of 1.1 V and short circuit current (Isc) of 220 mA.