Randomly Mixed Atoms Arranged In Rows For Sustainable Catalysis

Can order and disorder be combined? Epitaxial mixed crystals can do this and thus provide a platform for understanding new electrocatalysts.

Sustainable catalysts are needed for the energy system of the future, enabling, for example, the efficient production of green hydrogen. Materials consisting of mixtures of five chemical elements show great promise for creating ideal catalysts in the future. Researchers from the DFG Collaborative Research Center 1625 "Atomic-scale understanding and design of multifunctional mixed crystal surfaces with complex chemical composition" have succeeded in growing such so-called complex mixed crystals almost as single crystals on a sapphire wafer and examining them in detail using four different microscopy methods. They report their findings in the journal Materials Horizons on July 14, 2026.