# Polymer‐Assisted Direct and Rapid Microwave Synthesis of Mesoporous Binary and Ternary Metal Oxides for Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation

## TL;DR

A fast microwave method creates mesoporous metal oxides that work better as electrocatalysts for water oxidation.

## Contribution

A new microwave synthesis method for mesoporous metal oxides is introduced, enabling rapid production and enhanced electrocatalytic performance.

## Key findings

- Mesoporous NiFe2O4 and α-Mn2O3 show improved electrocatalytic oxygen evolution in alkaline media.
- The microwave synthesis takes only 15–30 minutes, much faster than conventional methods.
- Materials were thoroughly characterized using PXRD, Raman, SEM, TEM, and other advanced techniques.

## Abstract

A novel quick and facile polymer‐assisted microwave synthesis route to prepare mesoporous binary metal oxides α‐Fe2O3 and α‐Mn2O3 and spinel‐type ferrites NiFe2O4 and ZnFe2O4 is presented, which can potentially be applied for many other mixed metal oxides. The presented synthesis only needs 15–30 min, much shorter than conventional approaches for mesoporous materials. Thorough characterization of the materials is performed by Powder X‐Ray Diffraction (PXRD), Raman spectroscopy, energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDXS), nitrogen physisorption analysis, mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), diffuse reflectance infrared fourier transform (DRIFT) spectroscopy, UV–Vis‐spectroscopy, X‐Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning (SEM) as well as transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED). Furthermore, mesoporous α‐Mn2O3 and NiFe2O4 are applied as electrocatalysts for electrocatalytic oxygen evolution in alkaline media, showing improved performance compared to nanoparticles or EISA‐derived mesoporous NiFe2O4.

A novel direct and facile microwave synthesis route to prepare mesoporous binary and ternary metal oxides with P‐123® as porogen is presented. NiFe2O4 is applied in alkaline Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER) and shows improved performance in comparison to nanoparticular and  Evaporation Induced Self‐Assembly (EISA)‐derived mesoporous NiFe2O4.