Entropy-stabilized oxides

TLDR

Configurational disorder can be engineered into mixed oxides by populating a single sublattice with many distinct cations, enabling novel entropy‑stabilized crystalline phases with new cation incorporation. The study demonstrates that entropy dominates the thermodynamic landscape and drives a reversible solid‑state transformation between multiphase and single‑phase states in a five‑component oxide formulation. The reversible transformation yields a single‑phase oxide with random, homogeneous cation distributions, validating that deliberate configurational disorder is an effective strategy for discovering new crystalline phases and engineering properties.

Abstract

Abstract Configurational disorder can be compositionally engineered into mixed oxide by populating a single sublattice with many distinct cations. The formulations promote novel and entropy-stabilized forms of crystalline matter where metal cations are incorporated in new ways. Here, through rigorous experiments, a simple thermodynamic model, and a five-component oxide formulation, we demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that entropy predominates the thermodynamic landscape, and drives a reversible solid-state transformation between a multiphase and single-phase state. In the latter, cation distributions are proven to be random and homogeneous. The findings validate the hypothesis that deliberate configurational disorder provides an orthogonal strategy to imagine and discover new phases of crystalline matter and untapped opportunities for property engineering.