Research Article

Co-precipitated MnCo₂O₄ Spinel: Physicochemical Properties and Potential Energy Storage Applications

Abstract

In this work, we reported a simplistic co-precipitation technique for the preparation of manganese cobaltite-MnCo2O4 material using potassium hydroxide-KOH. A comprehensive study on the properties of MnCo2O4 material was studied using characterization techniques like thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-FTIR, morphology studies, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy-EDS with elemental mapping.  The X-ray diffraction and FTIR studies of MnCo2O4 material confirm a cubic spinel structure with an Fd3m space group. The average crystalline size was 37 nm from the Scherrer formula. FTIR analyses from lower frequency regions have also confirmed the ion locations in the spinel structure of MnCo2O4 material. Micrographs look to be in irregular shape with an agglomeration of MnCo2O4 particles. To confirm the existence of Mn, Co and O elements from EDS studies and the corresponding distribution of elements was studied by elemental mapping. Therefore, the prepared material via the simplistic co-precipitation technique may be favorable for energy storage and other practical applications.