A combinatorial high-throughput aerogel synthesis method
is developed
to systematically study the synergistic catalytic effects of multiple
non-noble metal elements. A large number of aerogels with different
compositions were synthesized and the corresponding ternary phase
diagrams of the composition–electrocatalytic performance were
constructed. A batch of aerogel catalysts with outstanding catalytic
performance and stability for the electrochemical oxygen evolution
reaction (OER) were discovered. Amorphous Fe3Co3Ni2-(oxy)hydroxide with excellent electrocatalytic performance
(Tafel slope of 49 mV dec–1 and η100 of 421.48 ± 6.41 mV) was found to achieve a mass activity of
611.23 A/gmetal at 1.63 V (vs RHE). X-ray photoemission
spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) studies
reveal that the incorporation of a third atom (Ni and Ce) into the
binary aerogels enlarges the Co–O atomic distance and reduces
the average valence state of Co, which in turn speed up the oxygen
evolution reaction kinetics. This work puts forward a strategy for
high-throughput synthesis and screening of electrocatalysts and provides
valuable data sets for future machine learning and prediction of high-performance
electrocatalysts.