This project will explore the world of a novel class of materials – High Entropy Alloys (HEAs), for the oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline media. The complexity of HEAs introduce unique properties highly promising for challenging electrocatalytic reactions in a hydrogen electrolyzer.
With the increasing concern about climate change and the negative impact of fossil-fuels in the environment, it is imperative to accelerate the energy transition to more sustainable technologies. This transition involves, for instance, the development of environmentally friendly electrocatalysis for hydrogen electrolyzers – an important technology for decarbonization of industrial and energy production
On the cathode, noble metals and derivatives (e.g., IrO2) are well-known as the best-performing electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), requiring low overpotentials to achieve high reaction rates. However, the scarcity and high cost of Ir limit its widespread technological use and, therefore, motivated the search for non-critical raw materials, in which Ni-based catalysts, currently, are state-of-the-art materials for OER in alkaline medium.
A strategy to develop electrocatalysts with tunable physical/chemical properties without compromising performance is to design high-entropy materials. This novel class of materials contain five or more metals that, together, provide multifunctionalities due to the endless elemental combinations. Such variety of chemical composition allows tailoring the design of the high-entropy material to meet specific requirements for the desired application, e.g., high temperature operation, corrosion resistance, and superior electrochemical activity.
In this project, we will explore new Earth-abundant high-entropy alloys as electrocatalysts materials for OER in alkaline solutions. Beyond this project, we expect this class of materials to be of interest to other reactions, including CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR).
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