Nonprecious High‐Entropy Chalcogenide Glasses‐Based Electrocatalysts for Efficient and Stable Acidic Oxygen Evolution Reaction in Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis

• Published in: Advanced energy materials 2023-09, Vol.13 (35)
• Main Authors: Jo, Seunghwan, Kim, Min‐Cheol, Lee, Keon Beom, Choi, Hyeonggeun, Zhang, Liting, Sohn, Jung Inn
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chalcogenides; Corrosion resistance; Current density; Electrocatalysts; Electrolysis; Entropy; Membranes; Oxygen evolution reactions; Protons; Stability; Sulfuric acid; Valence
• ISSN: 1614-6832; 1614-6840
• DOI: 10.1002/aenm.202301420

Here,nonprecious high‐entropy chalcogenide glasses (N‐HECGs) consisting of Co, Fe, Ni, Mo, W, and Te are demonstrated in a first demonstration of acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER). N‐HECGs electrocatalysts with high activity and stability are synthesized using a hierarchical hybrid approach based on a combination of electrochemical deposition and tellurization process. The as‐prepared CoFeNiMoWTe N‐HECGs electrocatalysts exhibit an amorphous, porous structure of arrayed nanosheets with abundant active sites and the increased valence states of metal cations due to the incorporated non‐metallic Te, enabling the enhancement of glass forming ability and the valence states of metal elements. Thanks to the combination of their unique geometrical and chemical structure, as well as high configuration entropy nature and high corrosion‐resistance ability, the resultant CoFeNiMoWTe N‐HECGs exhibit excellent acidic OER catalytic performance with a superior overpotential of 373 mV and outstanding stability of 100 h at the current density of 10 mA cm −2 in 0.5  m H 2 SO 4 . Moreover, the CoFeNiMoWTe‐based proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer is demonstrated to require a cell voltage of 1.81 V at 70 °C to obtain the practically high current density of 1 A cm −2 , and exhibits remarkably long‐term stability for 100 h with small potential degradation of only 30 mV.