Enhanced activity and durability of FeCoCrMoCBY nanoglass in acidic hydrogen evolution reaction

In the present work, a multi-element nanoglass (m-NG) of FeCoCrMoCBY is obtained first time by the laser ablation combined with inert gas condensation (laser-IGC) technique. Compared with the con-ventional rapid-quenched metallic glass (MG) with identical composition, the Fe-based m-NG demon-strates a superior performance as a self-supported electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acidic solution. The enhanced HER activity of m-NG is proposed to be closely related to its high en-ergy states, which is originated from the unique inhomogeneous nanostructures with a high density of low-coordinated atoms. Additionally, the Fe-based m-NG exhibits an outstanding comprehensive catalytic performance even beyond the commercial Pt/C catalyst in long-term test due to its self-optimization abil-ity. This work not only opens the way to the preparation of m-NGs by the novel laser-IGC technique, but also makes a great contribution to developing low-cost, high-efficient, and super-durable HER electrocat-alysts in acidic environment.& COPY; 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.