A Laser Synthesis Strategy to Boost Oxygen Evolution Kinetics on Stainless Steel‐Based Catalyst via Dual‐Metal Segmentally Coordinated Reaction Centers for Efficient Alkaline Water Splitting

Abstract The fabrication of efficient, stable, and noble‐metal‐free electrocatalysts for the hydrogen energy field has been of great interest, but still faces numerous challenges, especially in the development of fast and convenient strategies. This study reports a state‐of‐the‐art strategy for the ultrafast preparation of spinel‐type oxide self‐supporting catalysts on stainless steel by ultrafast two‐step laser synthesis. The self‐supporting catalytic electrode not only possesses remarkable superhydrophilic/superaerophobic properties but also the constructed (Ni, Fe, Co)(Fe, Cr) ₂ O ₄ ·(O _x H _y )@SS304 microcone array catalyst also demonstrates a superior oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance with a low overpotential of 130 mV at 10 mA cm ⁻² , a Tafel slope of 34.0 mV dec ⁻¹ , and outstanding long‐term stability (a negligible overpotential decay of ≈5% at 10 mA cm ⁻² for over 88 h). The laser‐fabricated catalysts exhibit optimal performances, surpassing that of the best previously reported stainless steel‐based OER catalysts. First‐principles calculations also reveal that the reaction mechanism of the as‐prepared catalyst is affiliated with the oxide path mechanism dominated by the exposed (220) crystal facet, and dual‐metal segmentally coordinated reaction centers effectively reduce the oxygen evolution energy barriers, boosting the OER kinetics. This work may open up a new path to design multi‐metal‐based self‐supporting catalysts for hydrogen energy applications.