High entropy alloy as a highly active and stable electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

Transition metals and their alloys are expected to have high catalytic activities for hydrogen evolution reaction due to their partially filled d orbitals fitting for the gain and loss of electrons. The poor corrosion resistance, however, limits their applications as electrocatalysts in acidic and alkaline electrolytes. In this work, we report that high entropy alloy (HEA, Ni20Fe20Mo10Co35Cr15) with high corrosion resistance can be functioned as highly active and stable electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction in both acidic and basic electrolytes. The HEA requires an overpotential of only 107 mV in acidic solutions and 172 mV in the basic solution at current density of 10 mA cm−2, which are much better than that of the dual-phase counterpart and even comparable to that of Pt sheet and most reported nanostructured noble-metal-free catalysts, for hydrogen evolution reaction in both acidic and alkaline solutions.