Defect engineered ternary metal spinel-type Ni-Fe-Co oxide as bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall electrochemical water splitting

[Display omitted] •Facile synthesis of structurally engineered Ternary Spinel-type NiFeCoO4 nanoparticles.•Ni-Fe-Co elements work synergistically to enhance the electrocatalytic activity.•The defect engineered NiFeCoO4 requires a low water splitting cell voltage of 1.67 V. Transition metal spinel oxides were engineered with active elements as bifunctional water splitting electrocatalysts to deliver superior intrinsic activity, stability, and improved conductivity to support green hydrogen production. In this study, we reported the ternary metal Ni-Fe-Co spinel oxide electrocatalysts prepared by defect engineering strategy with rich and deficient Na+ ions, termed NFCO-Na and NFCO, which suggest the formation of defects with Na+ forming tensile strain. The Na-rich NiFeCoO4 spinel oxide reveals lattice expansion, resulting in the formation of a defective crystal structure, suggesting higher electrocatalytic active sites. The spherical NFCO-Na electrocatalysts exhibit lower OER and HER overpotentials of 248 mV and 153 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and smaller Tafel slope values of about 78 mV dec−1 and 129 mV dec−1, respectively. Notably, the bifunctional NFCO-Na electrocatalyst requires a minimum cell voltage of about 1.67 V to drive a current density of 10 mA cm−2. The present work highlights the significant electrochemical activity of defect-engineered ternary metal oxides, which can be further upgraded as highly active electrocatalysts for water splitting applications.