Metallic glass catalyst paves the way for efficient water splitting

Hydrogen is a promising clean energy carrier, but its adoption depends on cost-efficient production. Electrochemical water splitting is a key method, yet it relies on scarce and expensive noble metal catalyst. High-entropy metallic glasses (HEMGs) offer a promising alternative due to their amorphous structure and multi-element synergy. However, they often recrystallize during the formation of nanoporous structures via dealloying. The amorphous phase in HEMGs is vital for water splitting due to its disordered atomic structure, which provides a high density of active sites and promotes uniform elemental distribution. This enhances catalytic efficiency and stability, while also preventing phase separation and corrosion. A key advantages over crystalline counterparts.

To overcome this obstacle, a research team designed a HEMG (Cu₂₁Ni₂₀Co₅Zr₂₄Y₂₃Al₇) with intrinsic nanoscale phase separation. This property enables the selective dissolution of one glassy phase during dealloying, resulting in a three-dimensional (3D) bicontinuous nanoporous structure that remains entirely amorphous. A subsequent controlled surface crystallization treatment produces an amorphous/crystalline heterostructure (ACH). With nanocrystalline flakes embedded within amorphous domain. The resulting nanoporous high-entropy metallic glass catalyst with ACH (AC-NP-CuNiCo) exhibits a large specific surface area and significant lattice distortion, providing abundant active sites. A crucial element to enhance the catalyst performance. In addition, the amorphous/crystalline interfaces formed inside of ACH promote directed charge transfer and optimize the adsorption energy of various reaction intermediates. Uniquely, the ACH also modulates the d-band center, facilitating product desorption from the catalyst surface. Together, these features dramatically improve the adsorption/desorption dynamics during overall water splitting, enabling high performance with a low voltage requirement of 1.53 V at 10 mA cm^-2. Surpassing traditional noble metal-based Pt/C || IrO₂ catalysts.

The Future: This research pioneers new strategies for refining the composition, atomic structure, and electronic characteristics of HEMGs, opening the door to novel functional applications. The findings present new opportunities for customizing HEMGs across various areas of nanomaterial-based energy engineering. Future research will likely focus on further elucidating atomic-level structure–property relationships using advanced in-situ and operando characterization techniques to achieve precise control over surface crystallinity and coordination environments. Additionally, exploring a broader range of multi-element compositions through combinatorial methods and machine learning could lead to even greater improvements in catalytic activity and selectivity.

The Impact: Developing scalable synthesis methods and evaluating long-term stability under industrial operating conditions will be essential for translating these laboratory breakthroughs into real-world technologies. This research represents a significant advance in the quest for noble-metal-free, high-performance, and durable catalysts for energy-efficient water electrolysis, ultimately helping to reduce reliance on critical raw materials and accelerate the transition to a sustainable hydrogen economy.

The research has been recently published in the online edition of Materials Futures, a prominent international journal in the field of interdisciplinary materials science research.

Reference: Meng Liu, Shoucong Ning, Dongdong Xiao, Yongzheng Zhang, Jiuhui Han, Chao Li, Anmin Nie, Xiang Zhang, Ao Zhang, Xiangrui Feng, Yujin Zhang, Weihua Wang, Zhen Lu, Haiyang Bai. Amorphous/Crystalline Heterostructured Nanoporous High-Entropy Metallic Glasses for Efficient Water Splitting[J]. Materials Futures. DOI: 10.1088/2752-5724/add415

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