Preparation of Co3O4 nanoparticles by a polymer combustion route

Co3O4 nanoparticles have been successfully prepared by polymer combustion method. The structure, crystal type, and surface state were characterized by means of physical techniques, including IR, TG–DTA and XRD measurement. The IR data revealed that metal carbonate could be formed by the combustion reaction of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and cobalt nitrate, and the data of TG–DTA suggested that most of the organic and other volatiles could be removed at temperatures <350 °C, and the microstructure measured by XRD is cubic Co3O4 with the average size of 33 nm.