eng Science and Education Publishing Journal of Materials Physics and Chemistry 2333-4444 2024-09-24 12 3 42 48 10.12691/jmpc-12-3-1 JMPC20241231 article Sangar¨¦ Kassoum kassoum.sangare@usp.edu.ci 1 Seyhi Brahima 2 Coulibaly Bamoro 2 D¨¦partement des Sciences et Technologies Agro-Industrielles, UFR Agriculture, Ressources Halieutiques et Agro-Industrie, Universit¨¦ de San ¨C P¨¦dro, BP 1800, San ¨C P¨¦dro, C?te d¡¯Ivoire D¨¦partement de G¨¦osciences, UFR des Sciences Biologiques, Universit¨¦ P¨¦l¨¦foro Gon Coulibaly, BP 1328, Korhogo, C?te d¡¯Ivoire The aim of the present study was to synthesize Mn0.6Cu0.4Co2O4 electrocatalyst powder using nanocasting method with KIT6-100 silica and to investigate its chemical and physicochemical properties. Nanocasting process induced high oxide specific surface areas to the electrocatalyst, with BET surface value of 132 m2/g. By comparison, 91 m2/g was obtained by the classic solgel method. Pore size distribution investigation revealed a mesoporous structuration of the electrocatalyst synthetized by nanocasting route. This led to uniform pore size of ca. 6.1 nm whereas, a large distribution from 2 to 50 nm was found for solgel method. The uniform and controlled pore size contributed to effective penetration of the liquid electrolyte. X-ray diffraction (XRD) study revealed spinel lattice structure with large crystallites of about 8 nm. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements confirmed the presence of metal adsorption sites for electrocatalytic reactions. It also showed the predominance of Co2+, Cu2+ and Mn4+ species at the sample¡¯s surfaces, beneficial for good intrinsic activities of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). https://pubs.sciepub.com/jmpc/12/3/1/jmpc-12-3-1.pdf electrocatalyst spinel structure nanocasting solgel specific surface area pore size