As the global demand for clean energy continues to grow, electrochemical water splitting has emerged as a promising technology for converting renewable electricity into high-energy-density hydrogen. However, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), as one of the half-reactions of water splitting, involves complex four-electron proton-coupled transfer processes with sluggish kinetics, representing a critical bottleneck for overall efficiency. Developing OER electrocatalysts that combine high activity with excellent stability remains a key scientific challenge in this field.
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have shown great potential in electrocatalysis due to their high specific surface area, tunable structures, and abundant accessible metal active sites. Nevertheless, their intrinsically poor conductivity and typical powder form require the use of polymer binders for attachment to conductive substrates. This not only covers active sites but also increases interfacial resistance, compromising long-term stability.
Addressing this challenge, a team led by Academician Lan Jiang from Beijing Institute of Technology in Beijing, China recently proposed an innovative two-step strategy of substrate construction followed by active material growth. They first employed femtosecond laser ablation to induce regular three-dimensional microcone arrays on the surface of a CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloy substrate (FHEA). Subsequently, the researchers grew ultrathin bimetallic CoCu-MOF nanosheets (CCM) in situ on the FHEA substrate via a room-temperature co-deposition method, successfully preparing CCM/FHEA self-supported electrocatalyst with large specific surface area, rapid electrolyte exchange, and strong electronic interaction. The electrode exhibited enhanced OER activity with a small overpotentials of 231 mV to reach the current density of 10 mA cm -2 , and a Tafel slope of 53.3 mV dec -1 . Remarkably, it maintains stable operation at a high current density of 150 mA cm⁻² for over 300 hours with minimal degradation, demonstrating excellent long-term durability.
The team published their research in Nano Research on April 22, 2026.
For substrate, high-entropy alloy possesses excellent electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance. The femtosecond laser processing not only substantially increased the specific surface area of the substrate but also generated nanoscale protrusions and cavities that provided abundant nucleation sites, effectively reducing the energy barrier for subsequent MOF growth. For MOFs, the vertically intersecting CCM nanosheets formed interconnected pores that serve to expose abundant edge sites for catalysis while facilitating rapid electrolyte infiltration and efficient bubble detachment during the OER process.
"The key to this work lies in the synergistic effects of the multicomponent system and the precisely constructed hierarchical architecture," said Academician Lan Jiang, the corresponding author. "The laser-structured microcone on FHEA surface array not only serves as a conductive backbone but also establishes strong electronic interactions with CCM, modulating the electronic structure of the active sites. Simultaneously, the incorporation of Cu in CCM further optimizes the electronic state of Co sites, effectively lowering the reaction energy barrier towards efficient OE."
To elucidate the catalytic mechanism, the team performed finite element simulations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Simulation results revealed that the sharp microcone tips significantly enhance the local electric field intensity, with particularly strong field enhancement at the heterointerfaces between the CCM nanosheets and the substrate, facilitating charge accumulation and transfer. DFT calculations indicated that the in-situ formed CoCu oxyhydroxide species during OER exhibit strong electronic coupling between Co and Cu, resulting in a downshifted d-band center. This optimizes the adsorption energies of oxygen-containing intermediates and substantially reduces the free energy barrier for the rate-determining step (*O → *OOH).
Furthermore, the research team implemented a galvanometer-based laser processing system, achieving efficient parallel fabrication of 3×3 electrode arrays and reducing the processing time per sample to just 17.5 seconds, demonstrating the potential for scalable applications.
"This strategy of combining the exceptional physicochemical properties of high-entropy alloys with the structural tunability of MOFs, while constructing hierarchical architectures via femtosecond laser processing, opens new avenues for designing next-generation high-performance, long-lifetime self-supported electrocatalysts," Academician Jiang concluded. "We believe this approach can be extended beyond OER to other energy conversion and storage systems."
Other contributors include Zhuangge Yang, Jingya Sun, Yunlong Ma, Zhicheng Chen, Manlou Ye from the School of Mechanical Engineering at Beijing Institute of Technology in Beijing; Moyan Wang from the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Beijing Institute of Technology; Yongjiu Yuan from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at City University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong; Jiafang Li from the School of Physics at Beijing Institute of Technology; and Liangti Qu from the Department of Chemistry at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No.2023YFB4605501), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, 52235009), and the NSFC Basic Sciences Center Program (Extreme Light Field Manufacturing, 52488301).
About the Authors
Lan Jiang , an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, currently serves as the President and Deputy Party Secretary of Beijing Institute of Technology. He is a leading talent at the national level, a recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, and the Chief Scientist of a project under the National Basic Research Program of China (also known as the "973" Program). He also leads an innovation team supported by the Ministry of Education. He has been elected as the Russell Severance Springer Professor (an honorary distinguished professorship) at the University of California, Berkeley, and is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), The Optical Society (OSA), and the International Society for Nanomanufacturing (ISNM). Professor Jiang has been honored with numerous prestigious awards, including the second prize of the National Natural Science Award of China (as the principal contributor), the "Ho Leung Ho Lee" Award for Scientific and Technological Innovation, the third National Innovation Pioneer Award, the first prize of the Natural Science Award from the Ministry of Education (as the principal contributor), the first prize of the Technological Invention Award from the Ministry of Education (as the principal contributor), the first prize of the Guangdong Provincial Scientific and Technological Progress Award (as the principal contributor), the BSI Outstanding Research Award, and the Beijing Youth May Fourth Medal. To date, he has authored 343 SCI-indexed papers, of which 92 have an impact factor above 10. He holds an H-index of 70, with his papers receiving a total of 11,627 citations (excluding self-citations) in SCI-indexed journals. He is also the holder of 123 authorized invention patents, with 112 as the primary inventor and four as U.S. patents. His research contributions have been applied to 37 major national scientific and technological projects and equipment. He has delivered 82 keynotes, plenary, and invited talks at major international conferences and has served 22 times as a conference chair, session chair, or organizing committee member at international conferences.
Jingya Sun is a professor at the Institute of Laser Micro/Nano Fabrication, School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, China. She has been selected as a national high-level young talent and has long been engaged in research on ultrafast dynamics and high spatiotemporal resolution microscopic imaging technologies. Her work focuses on the observation of local transient electron dynamics during fabrication processes, the spatiotemporal evolution of material properties, and the development and application of four-dimensional ultrafast scanning electron microscopy. She has published 54 SCI-indexed papers, with 34 as the first or corresponding author. Dr. Sun has led more than 10 national and provincial-level projects funded by organizations including the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Commission of Science and Technology of the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Education. She has also edited and published two academic books and serves on the editorial boards of four international journals, while acting as a peer reviewer for seven SCI-indexed journals.
D OI Link:
https://doi.org/10.26599/NR.2025.94908268
About Nano Research
Nano Research is a peer-reviewed, open access, international and interdisciplinary research journal, sponsored by Tsinghua University and the Chinese Chemical Society, published by Tsinghua University Press on the platform SciOpen. It publishes original high-quality research and significant review articles on all aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology, ranging from basic aspects of the science of nanoscale materials to practical applications of such materials. After 18 years of development, it has become one of the most influential academic journals in the nano field. Nano Research has published more than 1,000 papers every year from 2022, with its cumulative count surpassing 8,000 articles. In 2025 InCites Journal Citation Reports, its 2025 IF is 9.4 (8.3, 5 years), and it continues to be the Q1 area among the four subject classifications. Nano Research Award, established by Nano Research together with TUP and Springer Nature in 2013, and Nano Research Young Innovators (NR45) Awards, established by Nano Research in 2018, have become international academic awards with global influence.
Nano Research
Laser-constructed 3D self-supported CoCu metal-organic framework electrocatalysts for efficient oxygen evolution reaction
22-Apr-2026