Activating and Rapid Self-Repairing Lattice Oxygen in High-Entropy Layered Hydroxides for Durable Oxygen Evolution

The activation of lattice oxygen to participate in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), thereby bypassing the theoretical limitations of the traditional adsorption evolution mechanism, represents a promising approach to enhancing the OER kinetics. However, there exists an inherent contradiction between the OER activity and stability of such catalysts due to the element overflow caused by the formation of oxygen vacancies during the OER. Herein, we present a compatibility strategy aimed at simultaneously enhancing activity and stability by incorporating catalytically inactive Zn into FeCoNiCu layered hydroxide (LDH). Results show that the introduction of Zn not only activates additional lattice oxygen to participate in the OER but also improves the adsorption of OH to timely fill the oxygen vacancy and inhibits element overflow and thus improves the catalyst stability throughout the process. Benefiting from this rapid self-repairing strategy, FeCoNiCuZn LDH can operate stably over 200 h in 1.0 M KOH with only 254 mV overpotential at 100 mA cm^–2. This study provides an alternative idea for designing catalysts with both high activity and excellent stability.