Acoustomagneto-electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction enhancement

Green hydrogen production is constrained by the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Here, we show that coupling an acoustomagneto-electrocatalytic (AME) effect to a ferromagnetic Ni catalyst yields an order-of-magnitude enhancement in OER activity. Nanometer-amplitude electromechanical vibrations on a piezoelectric chip induce local magnetic fields at the catalyst interface, increasing magnetization and dynamically reconfiguring magnetic domains—without the need for permanent magnets. Magnetic force microscopy and nitrogen-vacancy magnetometry reveal enlarged domains that reduce spin disorder and expose more catalytically active sites. This low-energy, dynamic approach lowers the OER overpotential by 0.34 V at 20 mA cm −2 via the synergistic coupling between induced magnetization, strain, and enhanced convective transport, collectively outperforming what can be achieved by these individual effects alone or in combination. The AME coupling thus provides a non-chemical, externally addressable route to exploit the intrinsic magnetoelastic properties of catalysts, with broad implications for their application across spin-dependent electrocatalytic processes.