Research on the Application of High-Entropy Alloys in Water Electrolysis for Hydrogen Production

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) exhibit remarkable catalytic potential for hydrogen evolution (HER) and oxygen evolution (OER) reactions in water electrolysis, owes to their tunable electronic structures and synergistic multi-element effects. This paper systematically reviews the design strategies, performance advantages, and applications of HEAs: stabilizing solid solution phases through the high-entropy (HE) effect, optimizing adsorption energies of intermediate species via lattice distortion, and enhancing active sites synergistically by leveraging the cocktail effect. Studies show that optimally designed HEAs (such as NiFeCoCrMn, AlCoCrFeNi, etc.) exhibit catalytic activities and excellent stabilities close to those of noble metals in alkaline and acidic media. However, their practical application still faces challenges including difficulty in identifying active sites, obstacles in scalable synthesis, and insufficient long-term operational stability. Future research should focus on atomic-level active center design, the innovation of sophisticated characterization methods, and the optimization of industrial-scale fabrication processes to promote the practical application of HEA catalysts in the clean energy field. This work provides new insights for the design of high-performance water electrolysis catalysts and holds important significance for advancing renewable energy conversion technologies.