New Catalyst Maintains Effectiveness for 12 Hours
An international team including researchers from HSE MIEM has developed a catalyst that enables fast and low-cost hydrogen production from water. To achieve this, the scientists synthesised nanoparticles of a complex oxide containing six metals and anchored them onto various substrates. The catalyst supported on reduced graphene layers proved to be nearly three times more efficient than the same oxide without a substrate. This development could significantly reduce the cost of hydrogen production and accelerate the transition to green energy. The study has been published in ACS Applied Energy Materials. The work was carried out under a grant from the Russian Science Foundation.
Today, an increasing number of countries are exploring pathways to transition to environmentally sustainable energy sources. Hydrogen has emerged as a promising candidate, as its use does not generate carbon dioxide, which is key to reducing emissions. Hydrogen can be produced through electrolysis—a process that uses electricity to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. But there’s a catch: the oxygen evolution stage is slow and energy-intensive, which drives up costs and makes hydrogen production less profitable. Speeding things up usually requires catalysts made from rare and expensive metals like platinum or ruthenium.
The authors of the article 'High Entropy (CoFeMnCuNiCr)3O4 Nanoparticles Anchored on Graphene-Based Supports for High-Performance Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalysis,' including researchers from HSE University, Kazan Federal University, South Ural State University, the Catalonia Institute of Energy Research (IREC), ICREA (Barcelona), and the University of Tabriz, propose a more affordable and sustainable alternative—high-entropy oxide.
'During the synthesis, we combined several metals—cobalt, iron, manganese, copper, nickel, and chromium—within a single crystal lattice. As a result, numerous active sites formed on the surface where the reaction proceeded more quickly and the structure itself proved more resistant to degradation over time,' comments Dr Ahmad Ostovari Moghaddam, Research Fellow at the HSE MIEM Centre for Quantum Metamaterials.
The researchers synthesised the oxide in the form of nanoparticles and anchored them onto different carbon substrates: graphite, graphene oxide, and reduced graphene oxide. The latter proved to be the most effective, ensuring an even distribution of nanoparticles, preventing them from clumping together, and enhancing electrical conductivity.
The catalyst based on reduced graphene also showed the lowest overpotential—just 290 mV compared to 770 mV for the original material. Overpotential is the difference between the actual and theoretical potentials of a reaction; the lower it is, the more efficient the catalyst and the easier the reaction.
Tests have confirmed that the catalyst remains effective during 12 hours of continuous operation and exhibits good electrical conductivity—a significant achievement for laboratory experiments. The authors suggest that these properties make it a promising candidate for future industrial electrolysers, although more extensive testing will be needed before practical implementation.
'We have demonstrated that combining high-entropy oxides with reduced graphene can overcome the limitations of traditional catalysts. This approach offers high activity, stability, and relative affordability,' comments Andrey Vasenko, Professor at HSE MIEM.
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Scientists Create Open Dataset for Studying Concentration
A team of Russian researchers, including scientists from HSE University–St Petersburg, has developed the first open multimodal dataset containing recordings of brain activity, heart function, and video observations to help researchers understand what happens in the human brain during deep concentration. In the future, the dataset could accelerate the development of neural interfaces, rehabilitation technologies, and AI systems. The article has been published in Scientific Data.
Scientists Propose Method for More Efficient Resource Use in Machine Learning
An international group of researchers, including mathematicians from the AI and Digital Science Institute at the HSE Faculty of Computer Science, has provided a theoretical justification for a simple and computationally efficient method of estimating uncertainty in Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD). The paper has been published on the scientific preprint server arXiv.org and presented at AISTATS 2026.
Team Success: Aligning Means with Objectives
In corporations, sports, and academia, people often face challenges they cannot handle alone. In such cases, selecting the right team is crucial. Tatiana Mayskaya, Associate Professor at the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences and the International College of Economics and Finance, together with colleagues from foreign universities, examined team characteristics and found that less diverse teams are better suited to objectives where a high average performance is important, whereas more diverse teams are preferable when avoiding failure is critical. The paper has been published in Economic Theory.
Economists Propose More Effective Approach to Reducing Smoking
Economists at HSE University have examined how smokers respond to changes in cigarette prices. When tobacco prices increase, cigarette consumption does not always decline. In fact, spending on tobacco may even rise: according to the researchers, a 1% decrease in cigarette affordability leads to a 0.28% increase in per capita tobacco expenditure. The findings suggest that to reduce smoking rates, tobacco prices must rise faster than household incomes. The study has been published in Voprosy Statistiki.
Biologists Discover Unique Properties of MiR-93-5p MicroRNA in Prostate Cancer
Researchers at the International Laboratory of Microphysiological Systems of the HSE Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology investigated how different isoforms of the same microRNA influence gene function in prostate adenocarcinoma. The study found that in some cases, microRNAs can reinforce each other’s effects by targeting and suppressing the same genes. This finding offers a fresh perspective on the molecular mechanisms underlying tumour development and on the search for disease biomarkers. The results have been published in PeerJ.
HSE Researchers Provide the World’s First Legal Definition of a Digital Ecosystem
Digital ecosystems have evolved from a technological innovation into a fundamental institution of the modern economy over the past few years. According to HSE University’s latest estimates, they account for 8.5% of Russia’s GDP. Previously, no jurisdiction had a statutory definition of what constitutes a digital ecosystem. HSE University researchers have addressed this gap by proposing the first legal concept of a digital ecosystem. Their article, ‘The Digital Ecosystem as a Novel Economic Phenomenon and Legal Concept,’ has been published in the BRICS Law Journal.
HSE Economists Use Search Queries to Forecast Birth Rates
Researchers from the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences have shown that the accuracy of birth rate forecasts for Russia can be improved by almost 50% by incorporating the dynamics of online search queries related to pregnancy and childbirth into forecasting models. In the best-performing models, the forecasting error fell from 4.6% to 3.2%. The findings have been published in Populations and Economics.
When Looking at Their Own Faces, Men Forget Everything
In an experiment involving 15 healthy men, scientists at HSE University investigated how different phases of the cardiac cycle influence the excitability of the motor cortex when participants viewed either their own photograph or the faces of strangers. The researchers found that when participants looked at their own image, the brain’s response to signals from the heart was weaker, meaning that the influence of cardiac activity on the motor cortex decreased. This finding came contrary to expectations, as self-focused attention was thought to enhance the brain's sensitivity to internal bodily signals. The study has been published in Frontiers in Signal Processing.
HSE Researchers Discover Who Eats Out in Russia—And Why
Around one-third of Russians (31.3%) rarely eat out or buy ready-made meals. The core group of active consumers—those who eat out or purchase prepared food almost every day or several times a week—accounts for only about 9% of the population. These are the findings of a study conducted by the HSE Institute for Social Policy. According to the researchers eating out is no longer a marker of high social status in Russia.
Scientists Model How Interactions Between Societies Can Trigger Chaotic Behaviour
Scientists at HSE MIEM have proposed a mathematical model explaining how interactions between societies can influence their stability. Based on the classical theory of evolutionary games, the study reveals an unexpected effect: even a weak informational influence of one society on another can cause one society to remain stable while the other exhibits chaotic behaviour among its individual members. The study has been published in the International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos.