The recent progress of high-entropy layered double hydroxides and high-entropy amorphous materials for water electrocatalysis

Abstract

High-entropy materials (HEMs), which are typically composed of five or more elements in near-equimolar ratios with concentrations ranging from 5 ​% to 35 ​%, have distinct elemental compositions and geometric properties that allow for the development of advanced electrocatalysts for renewable energy conversion systems. The high-entropy effect, crystal dislocations, cocktail effect, and slow diffusion in high-entropy layered double hydroxides (HE-LDHs) and amorphous materials (HE-AMs) have all been shown to boost electrocatalytic water oxidation performance significantly. These materials exhibit remarkable activity and stability in both alkaline and acidic conditions. HE-AMs, in particular, benefit from a variety of defects, including coordinatively unsaturated sites and loosely connected atoms, which are critical to their improved catalytic capabilities. HEMs engineering and precise nanostructure control can address the low intrinsic activity, restricted active sites, and poor conductivity of binary and ternary amorphous and LDH catalysts. This study discusses current advances in HE-LDHs and HE-AMs for water electrolysis, including synthesis methods, structural features, active site identification by DFT calculations, and their applications in water electrocatalysis. The presentation also covers potential problems and future directions for developing these materials in energy conversion device systems.