Lithium doped nickel ferrite for enhanced performance in hydroelectric cell

Hydroelectric cell (HEC) is one of the emerging devices in green energy production that produce electricity by splitting water molecules on the sites of unsaturated cations, oxygen vacancies or surface defects. Oxygen vacancies and surface defects are the active sites for the water adsorption/dissociation on the surface of metal oxides. To increase these defects in the nickel ferrite, we synthesized lithium substituted nickel ferrite and pure nickel ferrite via the Ball milling method. Lithium substitution at the Ni²⁺ and Fe³⁺ sites imbalance the charge neutrality in the material and leads to defect formation and lattice strain, which enhances the hydroelectric cell’s performance. X-ray diffraction and Raman analysis confirm the cubic spinel structure in both materials. The average grain size has been estimated from the FESEM micrographs and found to be in the range of ~100-200 nm. A higher output current is observed in the Li substituted Nickel ferrite-based HEC than nickel ferrite-based HEC.