Rare-Earth Element-Induced Charge Redistribution in High-Entropy Alloys toward Highly Stable Oxygen Evolution Catalysis

Transitional metals (TMs)-based high-entropy alloys (HEAs) have demonstrated exceptional oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity due to tunable electronic configurations and multimetallic synergy. However, their stability is hindered by oxidation and structural degradation resulting from intermetallic electron interactions during operation. Herein, we propose a cerium-mediated charge redistribution strategy in FeCoNiMnCe HEA, facilitating charge transfer from electron-rich Ce to neighboring TMs. This Ce-introduced HEA features increased dissolving activation energy of Fe/Mn and optimized electronic orbitals of Co/Ni, which inhibits the deactivation of active sites induced by high oxidized states during OER. Benefiting from charge accumulation on TMs, FeCoNiMnCe HEA achieves outstanding durability with negligible decay over 1000 h for OER at 10 mA cm–2 and enables stable zinc-air batteries operation for 4600 h at 2 mA cm–2. This work provides a robust strategy for designing stable HEA electrocatalysts through targeted electronic modulation.