Tellurium-induced defect engineering for boosting the oxygen evolution reaction of spinel oxide

Here, we report the successful synthesis of spinel oxides XTe-NiCo2O4 (X = 0, 2%, 4%, 6%) with different amounts of heteroatom Te doped in. Among them, 4%Te-NiCo2O4 exhibits the best catalytic activity. Experimental results show that the incorporation of metalloid Te atoms into NiCo2O4 facilitates the change of the electronic structure accompanied by the movement of the d-band center and produces more oxygen defects, which is beneficial for the improved OER activity of NiCo2O4.