Hard magnetic cobalt nanomaterials as an electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction

Magnetic cobalt nanomaterials, due to the high magneto-crystalline anisotropy, are favorable candidates for hard magnets. Herein, we improved the polyol process, which replaces α-diol with cost-effective 1,4-butanediol, and explored the best conditions for the synthesis of hard magnetic cobalt materials. The synthesized hexagonal cobalt nano-urchins exhibited a high coercivity of 2891.5 Oe. Further, we also studied the influence of the structure and morphology of cobalt nanomaterials on the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity. This combination of highly crystalline hexagonal close-packed nanostructure and special branch morphology can effectively enhance OER performance.