Versatility of Surfactant-Mediated NiTe2 Nanoparticles: Unlocking Potential for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction, Supercapacitor, and Sustainable Green Catalysis

Designing multifunctional nanomaterials is economically and practically advantageous. Herein, this work reports a surfactant-mediated synthesis of NiTe<inf>2</inf> nanoparticles (NPs) and their applications in electrocatalysis, energy storage, and sustainable green catalysis. The NiTe<inf>2</inf> NPs exhibit excellent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity, with a low overpotential of 309 mV versus RHE at 10 mA cm⁻² and a Tafel slope of 50 mV dec⁻¹, indicating fast kinetics. As supercapacitor (SC) electrodes, they deliver a high specific capacitance of 620 F g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹, retaining 62% at 10 A g⁻¹ and 78.3% after 5000 cycles. An asymmetric coin cell (ASC) achieves 75.3 F g⁻¹ specific capacitance, 30.6 Wh kg⁻¹ energy density, and 914.6 W kg⁻¹ power density, with 76.4% capacitance retention and 93.7% efficiency after 5000 cycles. Additionally, NiTe<inf>2</inf> NPs enable the sustainable synthesis of quinolines and 2-aminoquinolines, achieving up to 97% yield under mild conditions with only 0.00563 mmol (in 10 mg) catalyst loading. These results underscore the versatility of NiTe<inf>2</inf> NPs as a cost-effective, high-performance material for clean energy and green chemistry applications.