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Updated: Jun 30, 2026

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Published on: November 11, 2013
Universal Phase Engineering of High-Entropy Sulfides for Stable Sodium-Ion Storage With Ultra-High Capacity and
Boyu Cao1, Yujie Tan2, Yingying Zhao2
1Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology (Ministry of Education), College of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China.
High-entropy transition metal sulfides (HESs) show promise for sodium-ion batteries. A new low-mixing-enthalpy strategy successfully created a stable single-phase HES-Cr anode, significantly improving sodium storage performance.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Energy Storage
Background:
- High-entropy transition metal sulfides (HESs) offer potential for sodium-ion battery anodes due to synergistic effects.
- Multi-component incompatibility in HESs can lead to phase separation, limiting battery performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a low-mixing-enthalpy strategy for designing high-performance HES anodes by regulating element chemical compatibility.
- To synthesize and characterize a single-phase HES solid solution for enhanced sodium-ion storage.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a low-mixing-enthalpy strategy to design and synthesize high-entropy transition metal sulfides.
- Synthesized Co-Fe-Ni-Mn-Cr HES (HES-Cr) and Co-Fe-Ni-Mn-Mo HES (HES-Mo) to compare single-phase and phase-separated materials.
- Characterized material properties including electron delocalization, lattice distortion, and electrochemical performance for sodium-ion batteries.
Main Results:
- Successfully synthesized a single-phase Co-Fe-Ni-Mn-Cr HES solid solution (HES-Cr) with enhanced conductivity and moderate lattice distortion.
- HES-Cr demonstrated superior sodium-ion storage capacity (845.2 mAh g-1 at 0.2 A g-1) and ultra-high rate capability (497.5 mAh g-1 at 40.0 A g-1) with long stability.
- A three-parameter descriptor was proposed to predict single-phase high-entropy materials.
Conclusions:
- The low-mixing-enthalpy strategy is effective for designing single-phase HES anodes with improved electrochemical performance.
- HES-Cr exhibits excellent sodium storage properties, outperforming phase-separated HES-Mo and other HES-based anodes.
- This work advances the rational design of HESs and deepens the understanding of their composition-phase-performance relationships.
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