Multiple Metal–Nitrogen Bonds Synergistically Boosting the Activity and Durability of High-Entropy Alloy Electrocatalysts

The development of Pt-based catalysts for use in fuel cells that meet performance targets of high activity, maximized stability, and low cost remains a huge challenge. Herein, we report a nitrogen (N)-doped high-entropy alloy (HEA) electrocatalyst that consists of a Pt-rich shell and a N-doped PtCoFeNiCu core on a carbon support (denoted as N–Pt/HEA/C). The N–Pt/HEA/C catalyst showed a high mass activity of 1.34 A mgPt–1 at 0.9 V for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in rotating disk electrode (RDE) testing, which substantially outperformed commercial Pt/C and most of the other binary/ternary Pt-based catalysts. The N–Pt/HEA/C catalyst also demonstrated excellent stability in both RDE and membrane electrode assembly (MEA) testing. Using operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) measurements and theoretical calculations, we revealed that the enhanced ORR activity of N–Pt/HEA/C originated from the optimized adsorption energy of intermediates, resulting in the tailored electronic structure formed upon N-doping. Furthermore, we showed that the multiple metal–nitrogen bonds formed synergistically improved the corrosion resistance of the 3d transition metals and enhanced the ORR durability.