The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a key reaction in hydrogen production through water splitting and in fuel cells. Nickel nanoalloys are potential low-cost OER electrocatalysts, but their catalytic activity and stability need to be improved. The doping of nickel catalysts with anionic elements combined with partial amorphization can improve their electrocatalytic activity. In this study, we report a ternary B-, P- and O-doped amorphous nickel nanoalloy (BPO-Ni) as an effective electrocatalyst for the OER. Compared with binary boron–oxygen-doped nickel (BO-Ni) and phosphorus–oxygen-doped nickel (PO-Ni), ternary BPO-Ni has higher OER catalytic activity and better durability under alkaline conditions. Our results reveal that the high catalytic activity of the B-, P- and O-doped Ni nanoalloy is derived from the synergistic effects between the ternary heteroatoms and the Ni atoms, thereby increasing their catalytic activity. This work produces a new non-metal doped amorphous nickel nanoalloy structure, and offers a way of studying novel inexpensive and efficient OER catalysts.

氧气析出反应（OER）是通过水分解制氢和燃料电池中的关键反应。镍纳米合金是潜在的低成本OER电催化剂，但需要提高其催化活性和稳定性。用阴离子元素与部分非晶化相结合的镍催化剂可以改善其电催化活性。在这项研究中，我们报告了三元B，P和O掺杂的非晶镍纳米合金（BPO-Ni）作为OER的有效电催化剂。与二元硼氧掺杂的镍（BO-Ni）和磷氧掺杂的镍（PO-Ni）相比，三元BPO-Ni在碱性条件下具有更高的OER催化活性和更好的耐久性。我们的结果表明，B-的高催化活性 P和O掺杂的Ni纳米合金源自三元杂原子和Ni原子之间的协同效应，从而提高了它们的催化活性。这项工作产生了一种新的非金属掺杂的非晶态镍纳米合金结构，并提供了一种研究新型廉价而有效的OER催化剂的方法。