Iron-nickel spinel oxide as an electrocatalyst for non-aqueous rechargeable lithium-oxygen batteries

•NiFe2O4 synthesized by simple and cost effective chemical co-precipitation method.•NiFe2O4 is used as active catalyst in oxygen electrode for Li-air battery.•Present Li-O2 batteries can exhibit reasonable specific capacity and cyclability.•Easy, scale-up co-precipitation method can be explored for other oxide materials.

A lithium-oxygen (Li–O2) battery requires effective catalyst to enable oxygen reduction and evolution. Herein, we report the synthesis of novel macroporous NiFe2O4 nanoparticles by a facile and cost-effective urea assisted co-precipitation process. Characterization of the catalysts by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy confirms the formation of a single phase NiFe2O4 structure. The use of macroporous NiFe2O4 particles as oxygen electrode catalyst in rechargeable Li–O2 batteries, exhibits a superior catalytic activity with high reversible capacity of 5940 mA h g−1. Additionally, catalytic activity results in low charge over potential and comparable discharge capacity and cycling stability, indicating its potential as a promising catalyst for Li–O2 batteries. The simple and cost effective chemical co-precipitation method can be explored for synthesis of another oxides based catalyst materials.