Kinetic Trapping of High-Entropy Alloys via Fast Reduction and Mixing in a Liquid Metal

High-entropy alloy nanoparticles have emerged as a promising material platform for catalysis, sensing, energy storage, and biomedical applications, but their synthesis is often constrained by high temperature or energy inputs, as well as the intrinsic immiscibility of the constituent elements. A recent study in Nature introduces an isothermal solidification approach, in which metals are rapidly reduced and mixed in a sacrificial liquid metal, enabling the formation of nanoparticles containing up to 20 elements with controlled structure and morphology.