Although
high-entropy alloys have been intensively studied in the
past decade, there are still many requirements for manufacturing processes
and application directions to be proposed and developed, but most
techniques are focused on high-entropy bulk materials and surface
coatings. We fabricated high-entropy ceramic (HEC) nanomaterials using
simple pulsed laser irradiation scanning on mixed salt solutions (PLMS
method) under low-vacuum conditions. This method, allowing simple
operation, rapid manufacturing, and low cost, is capable of using
various metal salts as precursors and is also suitable for both flat
and complicated 3D substrates. In this work, we engineered this PLMS
method to fabricate high-entropy ceramic oxides containing four to
seven elements. To address the catalytic performance of these HEC
nanomaterials, we focused on CoCrFeNiAl high-entropy oxides applied
to the oxygen-evolution reaction (OER), which is considered a sluggish
process in water. We performed systematic material characterization
to solve the complicated structure of the CoCrFeNiAl HEC as a spinel
structure, AB2O4 (A, B = Co, Cr, Fe, Ni, or
Al). Atoms in A and B sites in the spinel structure can be replaced
with other elements; either divalent or trivalent metals can occupy
the spinel lattice using this PLMS process. We applied this PLMS method
to manufacture electrocatalytic CoCrFeNiAl HEC electrodes for the
OER reaction, which displayed state-of-the-art activity and stability.