Soft-Chemistry Routes to Entropy-Engineered Nanomaterials: Complexity-Driven Performance in Redox Electrocatalysis

Abstract

High-entropy nanomaterials (HENMs) have emerged as a distinctive class of electrocatalysts in which compositional complexity generates synergistic active sites, tuned electronic structures and exceptional durability. Conventional approaches to high-entropy phases have relied on harsh thermal or high-pressure conditions to achieve uniform alloying, restricting both scalability and structural control. In contrast, recent advances in soft-chemistry routes, such as hydrothermal and solvothermal methods, precursor decomposition, galvanic exchange and co-precipitation, enable the stabilization of high-entropy architectures under remarkably mild conditions. These strategies not only overcome kinetic barriers for multimetallic integration but also permit precise tailoring of morphology, surface chemistry and atomic configurations. Such structural control is critical for governing adsorption energetics, charge-transfer pathways and resilience under reaction environments, thereby paving the way toward the complexity-driven performance of HENMs in redox electrocatalysis. This review offers a unique perspective by focusing on soft-chemistry synthesis of HENMs and the resulting structureperformance relationships in electrocatalytic oxidation and reduction reactions. We critically examine formation mechanisms, design principles and catalytic outcomes, highlighting how entropy-engineered complexity translates into enhanced activity, selectivity and stability. Finally, we identify emerging opportunities for advancing mild-condition synthesis as a sustainable and versatile platform for the rational design of next-generation high-entropy electrocatalysts for energy conversion..