Grain-Size-Dependent Hydrogen Evolution and Oxygen Evolution Reaction Behavior of a Non-Equiatomic Fe41Mn25Ni24Co8Cr2 High-Entropy Alloy

초록

The grain-size dependence of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) behavior was systematically investigated in a non-equiatomic Fe41Mn25Ni24Co8Cr2 high-entropy alloy. Six fully recrystallized specimens spanning grain sizes from 5.1 to 197 μm, produced by high-ratio differential speed rolling (HRDSR) and controlled annealing, were tested in 1 M KOH. Differential local Tafel-slope analysis revealed distinct and asymmetric grain-size-dependent behavior for the two half-reactions. For HER, the local Tafel slope at −3 mA cm−2 showed the clearest correlation with log(d/μm) among the HER descriptors examined in the present dataset (R2 = 0.682), indicating that grain-size effects were most clearly expressed in the near-onset to intermediate current-density regime. For OER, finer-grained specimens consistently exhibited more favorable apparent performance: the overpotential at 10 mA cm−2 increased with log(d/μm) (R2 = 0.715; slope = 1.09 × 10−2 V dec−1), whereas the current density at an overpotential of 0.33 V decreased with grain size (j0.33; R2 = 0.787). Overall, OER showed stronger and more consistent grain-size dependence than HER. These results identify grain size as a useful empirical microstructural descriptor of apparent electrocatalytic response in this composition-fixed bulk HEA system and show that microstructural control provides a practical route for tuning alkaline HER and OER behavior. © 2026 by the authors.

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