Entropy-driven design of multifunctional electrocatalysts: Advances and perspectives in high-entropy materials

High-entropy materials (HEMs) have attracted extensive attention in the field of electrocatalysis due to their high performance enabled by their multi-component, tunable structural characteristics and excellent stability. HEMs are usually composed of five or more metal elements, and have core advantages such as high configurational entropy, lattice distortion and multi-element synergistic effect, which provide new possibilities for composition regulation and performance optimization of catalysts. Especially at the nanoscale, HEMs show a larger specific surface area, abundant active sites and higher catalytic reaction efficiency, further expanding their application potential in electrochemical reactions. This paper systematically reviews the classification, structure construction and regulation strategies of HEMs, and focuses on their research progress in critical electrocatalytic reactions including water splitting (HER, OER), hydrogen oxidation (HOR), oxygen reduction (ORR), carbon dioxide reduction (CO 2 RR), nitrate reduction (NO 3 – RR) and electrooxidation of organics (EOO). In addition, the preparation methods of HEMs, the structure-performance relationship and the entropy regulation mechanism in the catalytic process are analyzed. Finally, this paper proposes the key challenges currently faced by HEMs in electrocatalytic applications and looks forward to their future development direction, providing a theoretical basis and design ideas for building a new generation of efficient and sustainable electrocatalysts. This paper provides a systematic and comprehensive review of high-entropy materials (HEMs), covering their classification, structural regulation, and advancements in electrocatalytic applications, emphasizing preparation techniques, structure-function relationships, and entropy engineering mechanisms, outlining future challenges and directions. • Systematic review of the high-entropy materials’ latest applications in electrocatalysis. • Focus on the structural design and innovation of high-entropy materials in electrocatalysis. • Explore the synthesis strategies of high-entropy materials. • Insight into the development direction of high-entropy materials in the industrialization of electrocatalysis.