A simple electrodeposition technique has been used to synthesize Co nanoparticles with a 3D leaf-like morphology at room temperature. The prepared Co material has a layered sheet structure of a few nanometers thickness. The surface area of the Co leaf-like structure is three times higher than that of the Co nanoparticles. The prepared nanoparticles exhibit high activity towards ethanol oxidation in alkaline media with an onset potential of 0 V vs Ag/AgCl, which is one of the lowest reported potentials for a non-precious catalyst. The current density is observed to increase with increasing ethanol concentration from 0.1 M to 2 M, after which it plateaus. Mixing the Co catalyst with Vulcan carbon (20 wt%) resulted in a 50% increase in current discharge at different ethanol concentrations due to the improvement in mass and charge transfer rates as confirmed by EIS measurements. Also, Co deposited in situ on the surface of nickel foam (NF) exhibited a high activity towards ethanol oxidation as a standalone electrode that is 10 times that of bare NF.

在室温下，已使用一种简单的电沉积技术来合成具有3D叶状形态的Co纳米粒子。制备的Co材料具有几纳米厚度的层状片结构。Co叶状结构的表面积是Co纳米颗粒的表面积的三倍。制备的纳米颗粒在碱性介质中对乙醇氧化表现出高活性，相对于Ag / AgCl的起始电势为0 V，这是非贵金属催化剂中报告的最低电势之一。观察到电流密度随着乙醇浓度从0.1 M增加到2 M而增加，此后趋于平稳。将Co催化剂与Vulcan碳（20 wt％）混合，由于EIS测量证实质量和电荷转移速率有所改善，导致在不同乙醇浓度下电流放电增加50％。另外，钴沉积镍泡沫（NF）表面上的原位电极作为独立电极对乙醇氧化表现出高活性，是裸露NF的10倍。