Synergistic effects of mixing and strain in high entropy spinel oxides for oxygen evolution reaction

Developing stable and efficient electrocatalysts is vital for boosting oxygen evolution reaction (OER) rates in sustainable hydrogen production. High-entropy oxides (HEOs) consist of five or more metal cations, providing opportunities to tune their catalytic properties toward high OER efficiency. This work combines theoretical and experimental studies to scrutinize the OER activity and stability for spinel-type HEOs. Density functional theory confirms that randomly mixed metal sites show thermodynamic stability, with intermediate adsorption energies displaying wider distributions due to mixing-induced equatorial strain in active metal-oxygen bonds. The rapid sol-flame method is employed to synthesize HEO,…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: 2026822, ECCS-2026822, DE-AC02-05CH11231, SUB0000425
• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Awards: -AC02-05CH11231, 76SF00515, 05CH11231, ECCS-2026822, AC02-05CH11231, DE-AC02, DE-AC02-05CH11231, AC02-76SF00515, DE-AC02-
• SN
  Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
• OO
  Office of Science

  Awards: AC02-76SF00515, DE-AC02-76SF00515, AC02-05CH11231, -AC02-05CH11231, DE-AC02, 76SF00515
• DO
  Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems

  Awards: ECCS-2026822, 2026822
• DO
  Division of Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation

  Awards: ECCS-2026822, SUB0000425
• BE
  Basic Energy Sciences

  Awards: DE-AC02, AC02-05CH11231, DE-AC02-76SF00515, DE-AC02-05CH11231, 76SF00515, AC02-76SF00515, -AC02-05CH11231
• CS
  Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division

  Awards: DE-AC02-05CH11231, DE-AC02-76SF00515
• SN
  SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

  Awards: AC02-76SF00515, DE-AC02-76SF00515, DE-AC02-05CH11231