Fabrication of defect-rich bifunctional hollow NiTe2 nanotubes for high performance hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts and supercapacitors

Design and fabrication of bifunctional nanomaterials for energy conversion and storage systems have been receiving great attention. In this report, hollow NiTe2 nanotubes were efficiently synthesized utilizing a hydrothermal reaction route, and were subsequently employed as bifunctional materials for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and supercapacitors (SCs). The unique hollow structure can't only supply large surface area and abundant ions transport channels, but also shorten the ions transfer pathways between electrode and electrolyte. Furthermore, the rich defects and Te ions also improve the electrochemical performances to some extent. The electrochemical measurement results show the superior electrocatalytic activity of hollow NiTe2 nanotubes for HER (85 mV under 10 mA cm−2) and electrochemical capacitance for SCs (566 F g−1 @ 1.5 A g−1). Additionally, the hollow NiTe2 nanotubes-based electrodes present excellent electrochemical stabilities in HER and SCs, respectively. Our findings demonstrate that the hollow NiTe2 nanotubes should be good candidates as bifunctional materials for HER and SCs.