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Published on: December 6, 2021
Ultrafine Nanoporous Ordered High-Entropy Intermetallics with Isolated Multisites toward Electrocatalytic Aldehyde
Jilong Li1, Zhen Wang1, Linghu Meng1
1College of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing Technology for Vehicle, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan 410082, China.
A novel Zn-assisted electrochemical phase transformation strategy creates ultrafine nanoporous high-entropy intermetallics for efficient electrocatalytic hydrogenation. This method enhances catalyst activity and stability for sustainable chemical production.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Catalysis
Background:
- Developing efficient alloy catalysts for electrocatalytic hydrogenation is vital for sustainable chemical synthesis.
- Traditional single-element alloys often exhibit limited activity and stability due to poor active site dispersion and electron donation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a new strategy for synthesizing high-efficiency alloy catalysts.
- To investigate the potential of nanoporous high-entropy intermetallics (np-HEIs) for electrocatalytic hydrogenation.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a Zn-assisted electrochemical phase transformation (Zn-EPT) strategy.
- Synthesized ultrafine (∼2 nm) nanoporous high-entropy intermetallics (np-HEIs) using Zn as a sacrificial element.
- Investigated the electrocatalytic performance of nanoporous (Pd0.25Cu0.25Ag0.25Ir0.25)Zn (np-PCAIZ) for furfural hydrogenation.
Main Results:
- Achieved exceptional electrocatalytic furfural hydrogenation with 93.8% conversion and 92.4% faradaic efficiency (FE) at -0.2 V vs RHE.
- Demonstrated outstanding stability over 120 hours at 100 mA cm⁻² for gram-scale furfuryl alcohol production.
- Theoretical calculations revealed optimized adsorption and hydrogen transfer mechanisms contributing to high performance and suppressed hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).
Conclusions:
- The Zn-EPT strategy provides a general blueprint for designing high-efficiency np-HEIs.
- The synthesized np-PCAIZ catalyst shows significant promise for industrial electrocatalytic hydrogenation applications.
- Spatially isolated multisites and ordered high-entropy structures are key to enhanced catalytic activity and selectivity.
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