Surface-Tailored Medium Entropy Alloys as Radically Low Overpotential Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalysts

Numerous studies have explored new materials for electrocatalysts, but it is difficult to discover materials that surpass the catalytic activity of current commercially available noble metal electrocatalysts. In contrast to conventional transition metal alloys, high-entropy alloys (HEAs) have immense potential to maximize their catalytic properties because of their high stability and compositional diversity as oxygen evolution reactions (OERs). This work presents medium-entropy alloys (MEAs) as OER electrocatalysts to simultaneously satisfy the requirement of high catalytic activity and long-term stability. The surface of MEA electrocatalyst is tailored to suit the OER via anodizing and cyclic voltammetry activation methods. Optimized electrical properties and hydrophilicity of the surface enable an extremely low overpotential of 187 mV for achieving the current density of 10 mA cm(-2) alkaline media. Furthermore, a combined photovoltaic-electrochemical system with MEA electrocatalyst and a perovskite/Si tandem solar cell exhibits a solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of 20.6% for an unassisted hydrogen generation system. These results present a new pathway for designing sustainable high efficiency water splitting cells.

Automated summary

This study introduces medium-entropy alloys (MEAs) as electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reactions (OERs), which possess high catalytic activity and long-term stability. The surface properties of MEA are tailored to adapt to OER, enabling efficient water splitting cells with sustainable high efficiency.