Metallic zinc is an attractive anode material for aqueous rechargeable batteries because of its high theoretical capacity and low cost. However, state-of-the-art zinc anodes suffer from low coulombic efficiency and severe dendrite growth during stripping/plating processes, hampering their practical applications. Here we show that eutectic-composition alloying of zinc and aluminum as an effective strategy substantially tackles these irreversibility issues by making use of their lamellar structure, composed of alternating zinc and aluminum nanolamellas. The lamellar nanostructure not only promotes zinc stripping from precursor eutectic Zn 88 Al 12 (at%) alloys, but produces core/shell aluminum/aluminum sesquioxide interlamellar nanopatterns in situ to in turn guide subsequent growth of zinc, enabling dendritefree zinc stripping/plating for more than 2000 h in oxygen-absent aqueous electrolyte. These outstanding electrochemical properties enlist zinc-ion batteries constructed with Zn 88 Al 12 alloy anode and K x MnO 2 cathode to deliver high-density energy at high levels of electrical power and retain 100% capacity after 200 hours.

Electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution in alkaline and neutral media offers the possibility of adopting platinum‐free electrocatalysts for large‐scale electrochemical production of pure hydrogen fuel, but most state‐of‐the‐art electrocatalytic materials based on nonprecious transition metals operate at high overpotentials. Here, a monolithic nanoporous multielemental CuAlNiMoFe electrode with electroactive high‐entropy CuNiMoFe surface is reported to hold great promise as cost‐effective electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline and neutral media. By virtue of a surface high‐entropy alloy composed of dissimilar Cu, Ni, Mo, and Fe metals offering bifunctional electrocatalytic sites with enhanced kinetics for water dissociation and adsorption/desorption of reactive hydrogen intermediates, and hierarchical nanoporous Cu scaffold facilitating electron transfer/mass transport, the nanoporous CuAlNiMoFe electrode exhibits superior nonacidic HER electrocatalysis. It only takes overpotentials as low as ≈240 and ≈183 mV to reach current densities of ≈1840 and ≈100 mA cm−2 in 1 m KOH and pH 7 buffer electrolytes, respectively; ≈46‐ and ≈14‐fold higher than those of ternary CuAlNi electrode with bimetallic Cu–Ni surface alloy. The outstanding electrocatalytic properties make nonprecious multielemental alloys attractive candidates as high‐performance nonacidic HER electrocatalytic electrodes in water electrolysis.

Developing robust nonprecious electrocatalysts towards hydrogen/oxygen evolution reactions is crucial for widespread use of electrochemical water splitting in hydrogen production. Here, we report that intermetallic Co 3 Mo spontaneously separated from hierarchical nanoporous copper skeleton shows genuine potential as highly efficient electrocatalysts for alkaline hydrogen/oxygen evolution reactions in virtue of in-situ hydroxylation and electrooxidation, respectively. The hydroxylated intermetallic Co 3 Mo has an optimal hydrogenbinding energy to facilitate adsorption/desorption of hydrogen intermediates for hydrogen molecules. Associated with high electron/ion transport of bicontinuous nanoporous skeleton, nanoporous copper supported Co 3 Mo electrodes exhibit impressive hydrogen evolution reaction catalysis, with negligible onset overpotential and low Tafel slope (~40 mV dec −1) in 1 M KOH, realizing current density of −400 mA cm −2 at overpotential of as low as 96 mV. When coupled to its electro-oxidized derivative that mediates efficiently oxygen evolution reaction, their alkaline electrolyzer operates with a superior overall water-splitting output, outperforming the one assembled with noble-metal-based catalysts.

Designing highly active and robust electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is crucial for many renewable energy storage and conversion devices. Here, self‐supported monolithic hybrid electrodes that are composed of bimetallic cobalt–molybdenum nitride nanosheets vertically aligned on 3D and bicontinuous nanoporous gold (NP Au/CoMoNx) are reported as highly efficient electrocatalysts to boost the sluggish reaction kinetics of water oxidation in alkaline media. By virtue of the constituent CoMoNx nanosheets having large accessible CoMoOx surface with remarkably enhanced electrocatalytic activity and the nanoporous Au skeleton facilitating electron transfer and mass transport, the NP Au/CoMoNx electrode exhibits superior OER electrocatalysis in 1 m KOH, with low onset overpotential (166 mV) and Tafel slope (46 mV dec−1). It only takes a low overpotential of 370 mV to reach ultrahigh current density of 1156 mA cm−2, ≈140‐fold higher than free CoMoNx nanosheets. The electrocatalytic performance makes it an attractive candidate as the OER catalyst in the water electrolysis.

Developing electrocatalysts that are more efficient and robust than platinum for pH-universal hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is crucial for scalable and sustainable hydrogen production through electrochemical water splitting. Here we report platinum-free bimetallic surface alloys of palladium and silver, which spontaneously form on self-supported three-dimensional nanoporous Pd–Ag–Al electrodes during the selective etching process, as high-performance HER catalysts in both basic and acidic media. As a consequence of Ag weakening moderately the hydrogen bonding energy of nearby surface Pd atoms to improve HER intrinsic activity and interconnective metal skeleton facilitating electron transfer, nanoporous Pd–Ag–Al electrodes exhibit low onset overpotential and ultralow Tafel slopes (∼26 and ∼56 mV dec–1) and overpotentials (∼63 and ∼108 mV) at 200 mA cm–2 in 0.5 M H2SO4 and 1 M KOH electrolytes, respectively, with long-term cycling stability. The catalytic properties make them attractive alternatives to Pt-based catalysts toward highly efficient HER.

Highly efficient electrocatalysts for water splitting generally involve noble metals (Pt, Ir, Ru, etc.) or expensive transition metals (Ni, Co, Cu, etc.), which has hindered their widespread application. Here, we...

Chromium-doped NiFe oxyhydroxide nanosheets that are quasi-vertically oriented on three-dimensional nanoporous gold exhibit superior catalytic activity towards the oxygen evolution reaction.

Transition metal (TM)-doped intermetallic compounds that are composed of a surface Pt-TM alloy with a self-grown hydroxide serve as bifunctional alkaline HER catalysts.