A Novel Multinary Intermetallic as an Active Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution

Abstract

as a particularly promising and appealing technology because it has the potential to be both environmentally friendly and low cost. [2] This application creates demand for non-noble-metal-based electrocatalysts to substitute for the currently used highcost Pt catalysts; however, the development remains extremely challenging.High-entropy materials (HEMs) with unique microstructures and unprecedented physicochemical and mechanical properties have attracted a great deal of research interest in many different applied research fields. [3,4] High-entropy alloys (HEAs), as a prominent and already wellestablished group of HEMs, are generally defined as containing five or more principal components alloyed into a crystalline solid-solution phase with unexpected stability and chemical complexity. Many HEAs have demonstrated superior properties relative to traditional alloys, including unprecedented fracture toughness at cryogenic temperatures, [5] ultra-high mechanical performance overcoming the trade-off between strength and ductility, [6] and excellent catalytic selectivity and activities. [7] Largely because of their proximal arrangement of Electrochemical water splitting offers an attractive approach for hydrogen production. However, the lack of high-performance cost-effective electrocatalyst severely hinders its applications. Here, a multinary highentropy intermetallic (HEI) that possesses an unusual periodically ordered structure containing multiple non-noble elements is reported, which can serve as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution. This HEI exhibits excellent activities in alkalinity with an overpotential of 88.2 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm −2 and a Tafel slope of 40.1 mV dec −1 , which are comparable to those of noble catalysts. Theoretical calculations reveal that the chemical complexity and surprising atomic configurations provide a strong synergistic function to alter the electronic structure. Furthermore, the unique L1 2 -type ordered structure enables a specific site-isolation effect to further stabilize the H 2 O/H* adsorption/desorption, which dramatically optimizes the energy barrier of hydrogen evolution. Such an HEI strategy uncovers a new paradigm to develop novel electrocatalyst with superior reaction activities.As society seeks to drastically reduce the future usage of fossil fuels, molecular hydrogen is widely recognized as one of the most sustainable and regenerative alternative energy resources. [1] When considering the wide range of hydrogen production methods, electrochemical water splitting has been identifiedThe ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under https://doi.

High Density and Unit Activity Integrated in Amorphous Catalysts for Electrochemical Water Splitting

“…[ 100–106 ] Their drawbacks of scarcity and high cost prevent them from meeting the needs of the H 2 production process and restrict their practical application. Hence, it is time to seek novel alternative catalysts that exhibit excellent catalytic activity and stability such as amorphous materials, [ 107–113 ] high entropy alloy intermetallic oxides, [ 114–118 ] and perovskite‐based catalysts. [ 119–123 ]…”

Nanoporous Surface High‐Entropy Alloys as Highly Efficient Multisite Electrocatalysts for Nonacidic Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

“…[ 29,39,41–46 ] Therefore, it is highly desirable to explore novel and versatile electrode materials, particularly in multielemental alloys (MEAs), which are expected as ideal platform materials for catalyst discovery and property optimization, with an expansive compositional space. [ 47–50 ]…”

“…[29,39,[41][42][43][44][45][46] Therefore, it is highly desirable to explore novel and versatile electrode materials, particularly in multielemental alloys (MEAs), which are expected as ideal platform materials for catalyst discovery and property optimization, with an expansive compositional space. [47][48][49][50] In this work, we report monolithic nanoporous CuAlNiMoFe MEA electrodes, on which surface high-entropy CuNiMoFe alloy is in situ formed at the body-centered cubic (BCC) CuAl-NiMoFe precipitates and seamlessly anchored on hierarchical Cu skeleton, for highly efficient HER electrocatalysis in nonacidic media. Therein, the BCC surface high-entropy alloy composed of dissimilar Cu, Ni, Mo, and Fe atoms works as bifunctional sites to boost water dissociation and facilitate H* adsorption/desorption, while the hierarchical nanoporous Cu skeleton serves as a scaffold for fast electron transfer and ion/molecule transport along the interconnective Cu ligaments and the interpenetrating lamella-structured large channels, respectively.…”

Low‐Dimensional Metallic Nanomaterials for Advanced Electrocatalysis

“…Generally, a high overpotential and low FE will not only lead to a low conversion efficiency, but also a waste of energy. [9][10][11][12] Introducing a major challenge. Therefore, summarizing advanced methods and exploring novel strategies for the controlled synthesis of LDMNs are also important.…”