Facile synthesis of molybdenum trioxide supported nanospheres Iron telluride for highly efficient electrocatalytic oxygen and hydrogen production

Transition metal oxide electrocatalysts have gained attention for their potential in eco-friendly electrochemical applications, due to their affordability, durability, structural adaptability, and customizable catalytic activity. This study integrates 5d transition metal oxide nanoparticles MoO₃ with a porous FeTe array on nickel foam to form the MoO₃@FeTe/NF porous nanosphere array. This structure achieves low overpotentials of 42 mV for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and 222 mV for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at 10 mA cm^{− 2}, with OER and HER Tafel slopes of 108 mV dec^{− 1} and 66 mV dec^{− 1}, respectively, demonstrating stability over 25 h during HER testing, and 80 h for OER. The MoO₃@FeTe/NF nanocatalyst also reaches a current density of 10 mA cm^{− 2} with a cell voltage of 1.5 V. This research presents an effective method for creating cost-effective electrocatalysts for water-splitting applications.