One-step synthesis of Pt@(CrMnFeCoNi)3O4 high entropy oxide catalysts through flame spray pyrolysis

High entropy oxides (HEOs) show great prospects in catalysis owing to their widely tunable component structures and ease of combination with active metals. However, the development of HEO catalysts is limited by the lack of efficient synthesis methods due to the difficulty of homogeneously mixing at least five elements. In this work, flame spray pyrolysis (FSP) is successfully employed to synthesize (CrMnFeCoNi)₃O₄ HEO with a single phase spinel structure in one step, which is verified by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Taking CO catalytic oxidation as a probe reaction, the Pt@(CrMnFeCoNi)₃O₄ HEO catalyst synthesized by FSP in one step is compared with the catalyst whose Pt is impregnated on (CrMnFeCoNi)₃O₄ HEO support. The FSP-made catalysts have a higher catalytic reaction rate and better redox ability, which lowers the temperature of complete CO conversion by nearly 100 °C. Furthermore, it can be observed that the flame parameters can be optimized to modify the particle size and oxygen vacancies of the HEO nanoparticles, thus enhancing the catalytic performances. This work demonstrates that FSP is an effective method for the one-step synthesis of HEO catalysts with excellent catalytic performance, providing a new perspective for the synthesis of HEO-based materials.