高熵纳米材料的电催化应用及研究进展

High-entropy nanomaterials exhibit excellent catalytic activity in the electrochemical process, widely concerned by researchers and expected to become ideal electrocatalytic materials, because of their unique microstructures, physical and chemical properties. Unlike traditional alloys containing 1–2 metals, multi-element high-entropy nanomaterials are typically composed of 5 or more elements with equal or nearly equal atomic ratios, and are the result of the combined action of multiple components, rather than the unique properties of a single element. They have structural characteristics of disordered occupancy and lattice order. In recent years, there have been some reports on the use of high-entropy nanomaterials for reactions such as hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen evolution reaction, and oxygen reduction reaction, demonstrating their enormous potential in electrocatalytic applications. Applying high-entropy strategies to the design of electrocatalysts has many advantages. On the one hand, compared to traditional alloys with mixed phase gaps, high-entropy nanomaterials have a wide range of component control and complex surface chemical states, providing the possibility of obtaining nearly continuous adsorption energy curves. The continuous adsorption curve helps researchers to fine tune the structure of the catalyst, thereby fully exploiting the activity potential of the material. On the other hand, as a multi active site electrocatalyst, the interaction between different elements provides a unique surface binding site for high-entropy nanomaterials, which is conducive to breaking the linear limiting relationship of catalytic reaction, achieving selective adsorption of different reactants and intermediates, thus showing unique physical and chemical advantages in complex electrochemical reactions. In addition, in terms of stability, the high-entropy effect makes the material system more inclined to form solid solution, which improves the thermodynamic stability of the catalyst. At the same time, the delayed diffusion effect can increase the diffusion activation energy of atoms in the lattice, reduce the effective diffusion rate of atoms, improve the dynamic stability of the catalyst, and enable it to effectively express the active site under the harsh environment of strong corrosion and high potential. Therefore, high-entropy nanomaterials exhibit superior catalytic performance compared to single element systems and are a highly promising catalyst platform. However, the differences in elements and the complexity of multi-components in high-entropy nanomaterials can easily lead to the precipitation of a single phase. To achieve uniform distribution of various elements, the synthesis process parameters of high-entropy nanomaterials still need to be accurately designed. To further expand the electrochemical applications of high-entropy materials, the design of new high-entropy nano-material electrocatalysts and the exploration of their catalytic mechanism are the focus of current research in recent years. This review provides deep insights into the recent progress in electrochemistry about high-entropy nanomaterials. After introducing the synthesis strategies of high-entropy nanomaterials, including carbothermal shock, fast moving bed pyrolysis, wet chemistry, mechanical method, and dealloying, the applications of high-entropy nanomaterials as catalysts in hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen evolution reaction, oxygen reduction reaction, alcohol oxidation reaction, and CO₂ reduction reaction are discussed. Finally, the application prospects and future research trends of high-entropy nanomaterials are also highlighted in conclusions.