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Abstract Atomic‐scale engineering of chromite spinels featuring redox‐active tetrahedral A‐sites and strong Cr–O covalency offers a promising route to superior platinum‐group‐metal‐free oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts. However, comprehensive studies addressing how cation substitution influences surface chemistry and governs OER activity and durability in chromite spinels remain limited. Here, a systematic investigation of the multicationic chromite series NixFeyCr3−x−yO4is presented, identifying composition‐dependent Lewis acidity as a descriptor of superior OER performance. It is further demonstrated that tuning surface acidity directly controls dynamic reconstruction processes and lattice‐oxygen participation during spinel‐based electrocatalysis. Following activation, the optimized Ni0.8Fe0.3Cr1.9O4catalyst delivers a current density of 10 mA cm−2at an overpotential of 235 mV, surpassing RuO2, with excellent long‐term stability. Integrating microscopic and spectroscopic analysis with operando impedance spectroscopy, it shows that activation generates an oxyhydroxide overlayer and reveals a previously unrecognized link between surface Lewis acidity and the growth kinetics and activity of these shells. Density functional theory calculations indicate that Fe incorporation at octahedral sites raises the O 2p‐band center and lowers oxygen‐vacancy formation energy, promoting lattice‐oxygen activation and triggering reconstruction, yielding enhanced OER. This work integrates cation‐driven surface‐acidity modulation, acidity‐governed reconstruction, and OER activity enhancement into a unified predictive framework for designing earth‐abundant spinel‐based catalysts.more » « less
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Abstract Among several well-known transition metal-based compounds, cleavable van der Waals (vdW) Fe3-xGeTe2(FGT) magnet is a strong candidate for use in two-dimensional (2D) magnetic devices due to its strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, sizeable Curie temperature (TC~154 K), and versatile magnetic character that is retained in the low-dimensional limit. While the TCremains far too low for practical applications, there has been a successful push toward improving it via external driving forces such as pressure, irradiation, and doping. Here we present experimental evidence of a room temperature (RT) ferromagnetic phase induced by the electrochemical intercalation of common tetrabutylammonium cations (TBA+) into quasi-2D FGT. We obtained Curie temperatures as high as 350 K with chemical and physical stability of the intercalated compound. The temperature-dependent Raman measurements, in combination with vdW-corrected ab initio calculations, suggest that charge transfer (electron doping) upon intercalation could lead to the observation of RT ferromagnetism. This work demonstrates that molecular intercalation is a viable route in realizing high-temperature vdW magnets in an inexpensive and reliable manner, and has the potential to be extended to bilayer and few-layer vdW magnets.more » « less
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Considerable efforts are being made to find cheaper and more efficient alternatives to the currently commercially available catalysts based on precious metals for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER). In this context, fullerenes have started to gain attention due to their suitable electronic properties and relatively easy functionalization. We found that the covalent functionalization of C 60 , C 70 and Sc 3 N@ I h C 80 with diazonium salts endows the fullerene cages with ultra-active charge polarization centers, which are located near the carbon-diazonium bond and improve the efficiency towards the molecular generation of hydrogen. To support our findings, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), double layer capacitance ( C dl ) and Mott–Schottky approximation were performed. Among all the functionalized fullerenes, DPySc 3 N@ I h C 80 exhibited a very low onset potential (−0.025 V vs. RHE) value, which is due to the influence of the inner cluster on the extra improvement of the electronic density states of the catalytic sites. For the first time, the covalent assembly of fullerenes and diazonium groups was used as an electron polarization strategy to build superior molecular HER catalytic systems.more » « less
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