Facile Estimation of Surface Oxygen Vacancies in Co₃O₄ Catalysts with a Colorimetric Method

Oxygen vacancy (Ov) is known to act as an active center of the metal oxide. Quantification of surface Ov is vital for understanding the quantitative structure-activity relationship. Facile quantification characterization of surface Ov is highly desirable but still challenging. In this study, we presented a simple colorimetric method for rapidly quantifying surface Ov. As an example of metal oxide nanoparticles, Co₃O₄ was used to catalyze the 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB)-H₂O₂ colorimetric reaction. It was found that the absorbance of the TMB-H₂O₂ system was dependent on the surface Ov amount in Co₃O₄. The investigation of the mechanism showed that the Ov-dependent absorbance would be attributed to the activity of surface Ov to easily adsorb and dissociate H₂O₂ into a hydroxyl radical (^•OH). The absorbance signal of the TMB-H₂O₂ system acted as a probe to estimate the surface Ov. This colorimetric measurement could be completed in less than 20 min. The Ov concentrations obtained by the proposed colorimetric method matched well with those obtained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. This method does not require any complex operation and expensive equipment and can be performed in any ordinary chemical laboratory. So, this colorimetric method is expected to become an alternative approach for quantifying the surface Ov in metal oxide nanoparticles. This method will provide essential insights into the rational design and application of Ov.