City Univ of Hong Kong: Researchers develop low cost and high performance electrocatalyst for hydrogen production

https://fuelcellsworks.com/news/researchers-develop-low-cost-and-high-performance-electrocatalyst-for-hydrogen-production/

Researchers Develop Low-Cost and High-Performance Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Production - FuelCellsWorks

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 high‐entropy 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 L12‐type ordered structure enables a specific site‐isolation effect to further stabilize the H2O/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.

 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adma.202000385