Structurally Engineered Anisotropic Cobalt‐Based Nanostructures for Efficient Chlorine and Oxygen Evolution

Abstract

Abstract Electrochemical Cl 2 generation using inexpensive electrocatalysis has drawn tremendous scientific attention to meet the future demand for chlorine. The present work deals with the design of the chemical process to synthesize anisotropically aligned metallic hcp‐cobalt nanoparticles. The as‐obtained hcp‐cobalt rods are utilized for the generation of O 2 and Cl 2 via an electrochemical process. Controlling the thermodynamic parameters during the thermal decomposition of cobalt oxalate rods leads to the formation of aligned nanoparticles. Detailed microscopic investigation shows that the slow heating rate favors the anisotropic growth of nanoparticles, and the fast‐heating rate leads to the formation of agglomerated nanoparticles. Anisotropically aligned hcp‐Co rods show an overpotential of 240 and 30 mV for O 2 and Cl 2 evolution, respectively. These findings elaborate that aligned particles (rod‐like structures) show promising electrocatalysts with better efficiency for O 2 and Cl 2 generation. Further, wastewater treatment is done by using in situ generated chlorine and 99% degradation efficiency is observed for textile effluents (methyl orange).