Boron, nitrogen co-doped biomass-derived carbon aerogel embedded nickel-cobalt-iron nanoparticles as a promising electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction

B, N-co doped silkworm cocoon carbon aerogel substrate embedded with NiCoFe nanoparticles as excellent electrocatalysts towards oxygen evolution reaction. [Display omitted] •Robust B, N co-doped carbon aerogel was synthesized from silk cocoon.•The aerogel anchored with highly dispersed NiCoFe alloy worked as OER electrocatalyst.•The optimal electrocatalyst showed low overpotential and low Tafel slope in basic medium.•The intrinsic property of carbon aerogel helped to enhance the electron and mass transport.•The aggregation/accumulation of NiCoFe nanoparticles was prevented with improved activity and stability. The electrocatalytic performance of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts is highly reliant on the activity of its catalytic active site, which may be augmented by raising the number of active sites. In this study, nanoscaled nickel–cobalt-iron (NiCoFe) alloy was embedded on conductive boron(B), nitrogen(N) co-doped/biomass-derived carbon aerogel as an OER electrocatalyst. The synthesized electrocatalysts were calcined under different temperatures and with variable dopants. The optimal electrocatalyst (BN/CA-NiCoFe-600) demonstrated a low overpotential of 321 mV (at current density of 10 mA cm−2) and a minute Tafel slope of 42 mV dec-1, which was even smaller than that of IrO2 and RuO2. Its mass activity and specific activity were calculated to be 201.7 A g−1, and 34.1 cm−2ECSA, respectively. Furthermore, the electrocatalyst showed excellent stability and durability. This work provides an easy and practical synthetic strategy for acquiring very active and durable electrocatalysts for OER.