Regulating the lattice strain field by high-entropy strategy to realize the conformal growth of perovskites for efficient oxygen evolution

Perovskite oxides show great promise in the field of water electrolysis due to their low cost and tailorable properties. However, their performance is seriously constrained by crystal agglomeration. Herein, a high-entropy strategy is reported to regulate the lattice strain field, endowing the crystal with a high energy barrier and optimizing its surface properties to achieve conformal growth of highly reactive perovskite oxides. A range of characterization methods and theoretical calculations are used to investigate the lattice distortion-induced complex lattice strain field and the effective activation strategy of the cocktail effect. Based on this, the produced rod-like La(CoFeNiCrAl)O3 (La5B–Al) exhibits a low overpotential of 285 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in 1 M KOH. This work provides a novel strategy to use the lattice strain field for regulating the growth of catalysts and clarifies the relationship between high-entropy effects and material properties.