Tailored Electronic Structure of Ir in High Entropy Alloy for Highly Active and Durable Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Water Splitting under an Acidic Environment

Abstract Proton‐exchange‐membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) requires an efficient and durable bifunctional electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, Ir‐based electrocatalyst is designed using the high entropy alloy (HEA) platform of ZnNiCoIrX with two elements (X: Fe and Mn). A facile dealloying in the vacuum system enables the construction of a nanoporous structure with high crystallinity using Zn as a sacrificial element. Especially, Mn incorporation into HEAs tailors the electronic structure of the Ir site, resulting in the d‐band center being far away from the Fermi level. Downshifting of the d‐band center weakens the adsorption energy with…

• MO
  Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning

  Award: 2021R1A2C2091497
• NR
  National Research Foundation of Korea