Multimetal glycerolates as precursors of high-entropy electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction in green hydrogen production

• Grant number: 25/04952-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2025
• End date: May 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Inorganic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Josué Martins Gonçalves
• Grantee: Pedro Luís Wassilewsky Caetano
• Host Institution: Instituto Mackenzie de Pesquisas em Grafeno e Nanotecnologias. Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM). Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 23/17560-0 - Designing new high-entropy coordination compounds via spray-drying and their derivatives for energy conversion and storage, AP.JP

Abstract

The rapid pace of global technological development has significantly improved the quality of life. However, this progress has come at the cost of increasing pressure on natural resources, escalating environmental pollution, and rising energy demand; challenges further intensified by population growth and industrialization in developing nations. Among these factors, the growing energy demand stands out as a critical concern, making the transition to clean and renewable energy sources essential to mitigate a looming energy crisis. One promising approach to this transition involves water electrolysis as a means of storing solar energy in the form of green hydrogen and oxygen gas. This stored chemical energy can later be released in fuel cells while regenerating water, establishing a sustainable energy cycle. However, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which take place in electrolysis and fuel cells, respectively, are inherently sluggish due to their multi-electron and multi-proton transfer nature. Currently, noble metal-based catalysts, such as IrO¿ and RuO¿, are widely employed as state-of-the-art electrocatalysts for the OER. Nevertheless, their large-scale implementation is severely constrained by the scarcity and high cost of these materials. This limitation has driven increasing efforts to develop noble-metal-free electrocatalysts as more sustainable and cost-effective alternatives. In this context, high-entropy materials (HEMs) have gained significant attention due to their innovative design concept and unique properties, offering remarkable potential for various energy conversion and storage applications. Recently, the HEMs research landscape has expanded further with the incorporation of the high-entropy concept into coordination compounds, including metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), Prussian blue analogs (PBAs), and other multimetal coordination systems, paving the way for new strategic applications. High-entropy coordination compounds (HE-CCs) have thus emerged as a promising new class of materials for next-generation electrode applications in energy technologies, as well as versatile precursors for synthesizing other functional HEMs. Among these coordination materials, multimetal glycerolates and their derivatives have shown great promise due to their ability to be synthesized in diverse morphologies, including porous, hollow, or yolk-shell structures. Indeed, recent studies have reported these materials as excellent precursors for producing highly porous multifunctional HEMs. This project aims to develop high-entropy electrocatalysts based on or derived from multimetal glycerolates synthesized via a solvothermal route for OER applications, focusing on the sustainable production of green hydrogen through water electrolysis. The research encompasses the synthesis and comprehensive physicochemical characterization of these materials, exploring formulations containing Ni, Fe, V, Mn, and Mo due to their promising catalytic activity. The selected researcher will be responsible for material synthesis, structural, vibrational, and morphological characterization, as well as electrode preparation and modification for electrocatalytic performance evaluation in two- and three-electrode systems. Additionally, the developed materials will be compared to counterparts synthesized via spray-drying (in parallel subprojects), enabling an assessment of how different preparation methods influence catalytic properties.