Tailoring high-entropy sulfides as kinetic accelerators for all-solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries

All-solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries (ASSLSBs) hold promise as a next-generation energy storage technology, yet their practical deployment is hindered by sluggish sulfur redox kinetics and restricted triple-phase interfaces. Here, we designed a high-entropy sulfide (HES) material with mixed ionic-electronic conductivity as a multifunctional mediator to engineer robust ion/electron transport pathways and abundant catalytic sites within the cathode. This unique structural configuration significantly enhances charge transport and optimizes interfacial kinetics, dramatically reducing polarization. Critically, HES-incorporated ASSLSBs exhibit superior performance at room temperature, achieving 84.0% capacity retention over 160 cycles at 1 C, a high capacity of 683.7 mAh g−1 at 5.4 mA cm−2, and an exceptional areal capacity of 5.8 mAh cm−2 with a sulfur loading of 6 mg cm−2. This work demonstrates that high-entropy-driven design principles can fundamentally address ion and electron transport challenges in sulfur cathodes, offering a viable strategy toward advanced ASSLSBs.