Preparation of hierarchical leaf-like cobalt and enhanced magnetic properties by a new low-temperature synthesis method

Abstract Hierarchical leaf-like cobalt materials have been synthesized by a simple method at relatively low temperature. The product was characterized by means of XRD, SEM, EDS, and VSM techniques. The effects of temperature and cobalt acetate amount on the final Co were investigated by a series of experiments. It was found that the temperature played an important role in the formation of such novel leaf-like cobalt. When the reaction temperature of the mixture was as low as 40–65 °C, the morphology of final products can be changed from fluffy like to leaf like hierarchical structures. The leaf-like cobalt possessed hexagonal close-packed (HCP) phase structure. The hierarchical leaf-like cobalt exhibited high saturation magnetization ( M s ) of 151.6 emu/g and coercivity ( H c ) of 158.5 Oe. The low temperature chemical reduction method is quite simple, it will provide possibility for large scale preparation of such leaf-like cobalt. Due to the specific structure and magnetic properties, these cobalt leafs are expected to have potential applications as candidates for microwave absorption and sensors.