Entropy‐Stabilized Cation–Anion Vacancies Coupling in High‐Entropy Two‐Dimensional Crystals for Efficient Oxygen Evolution

ABSTRACT Despite their versatility, high‐entropy materials (HEMs) still lack precise control over coupled multisite defects in electrocatalysis, and their dynamic reaction mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we report an entropy‐stabilized cation–anion vacancies coupling strategy in high‐entropy metal phosphorus trisulfides (MPS 3 ), enabling semi‐quantitative control of coupled metal and sulfur vacancies within a single‐phase lattice. Such vacancies coupling induces asymmetric coordination environments and lattice distortion, facilitating optimization of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) intermediate adsorption. Operando Raman spectrum reveal that coupled vacancies promote earlier surface reconstruction with enhanced OH * adsorption, while suppressing excessive oxidation and metal dissolution, through electronegativity‐driven ionic migration. Density functional theory calculations uncover a spatially synergistic OER mechanism, in which vacancies‐activated Co‐centered edge motifs dominate OER kinetics with basal‐plane P sites providing a complementary pathway. As a result, (MnFeCoNiZn) 0.7 PS 3−δ (HE 0.7 PS 3−δ ) delivers an overpotential of 212 mV at 10 mA cm −2 , a Tafel slope of 28.6 mV dec −1 , and stable operation for 800 h at 200 mA cm −2 . In an alkaline electrolyzer, HE 0.7 PS 3−δ || Pt/C operates at 1.8 V at 1 A cm −2 at ≈80°C and maintains stable operation for 300 h at 0.5 A cm −2 . This work establishes entropy‐enabled cation–anion vacancies coupling as a general design principle for high‐performance electrocatalysis.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Functional Materials
Published
2026-03-28
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.75186
Primary Topic
Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
Type
article
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article

Entropy‐Stabilized Cation–Anion Vacancies Coupling in High‐Entropy Two‐Dimensional Crystals for Efficient Oxygen Evolution

Nian X. Sun, Lan Jiang, Ming Lei, Tianping Ying et al.
Advanced Functional Materials
Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
article

Entropy‐Stabilized Cation–Anion Vacancies Coupling in High‐Entropy Two‐Dimensional Crystals for Efficient Oxygen Evolution

Nian X. Sun, Lan Jiang, Ming Lei, Tianping Ying, Wei‐Hsiang Huang, Guowei Liu, Zhichuan Zheng, Runze Yu, Zhiwei Hu, Chih‐Wen Pao, Kai Huang, Yang Qin
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite their versatility, high‐entropy materials (HEMs) still lack precise control over coupled multisite defects in electrocatalysis, and their dynamic reaction mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we report an entropy‐stabilized cation–anion vacancies coupling strategy in high‐entropy metal phosphorus trisulfides (MPS 3 ), enabling semi‐quantitative control of coupled metal and sulfur vacancies within a single‐phase lattice. Such vacancies coupling induces asymmetric coordination environments and lattice distortion, facilitating optimization of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) intermediate adsorption. Operando Raman spectrum reveal that coupled vacancies promote earlier surface reconstruction with enhanced OH * adsorption, while suppressing excessive oxidation and metal dissolution, through electronegativity‐driven ionic migration. Density functional theory calculations uncover a spatially synergistic OER mechanism, in which vacancies‐activated Co‐centered edge motifs dominate OER kinetics with basal‐plane P sites providing a complementary pathway. As a result, (MnFeCoNiZn) 0.7 PS 3−δ (HE 0.7 PS 3−δ ) delivers an overpotential of 212 mV at 10 mA cm −2 , a Tafel slope of 28.6 mV dec −1 , and stable operation for 800 h at 200 mA cm −2 . In an alkaline electrolyzer, HE 0.7 PS 3−δ || Pt/C operates at 1.8 V at 1 A cm −2 at ≈80°C and maintains stable operation for 300 h at 0.5 A cm −2 . This work establishes entropy‐enabled cation–anion vacancies coupling as a general design principle for high‐performance electrocatalysis.

Advanced Functional Materials
Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (CN), National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (TW), National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (TW), Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids (DE), FZU ‒ Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (CZ), Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research (CN), National Laboratory for Superconductivity (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 8%
Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
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