Pyrite High-Entropy Sulfides for Bifunctional Oxygen Electrocatalysis and High-Performance Zinc-Air Batteries


ERDİL T., Uysal N., Yüceer Z. I., Ozgur C., GEYİKÇİ U., TOPARLI Ç.

ACS Omega, cilt.11, sa.12, ss.19345-19355, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 11 Sayı: 12
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1021/acsomega.5c12740
  • Dergi Adı: ACS Omega
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Chemical Abstracts Core, Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.19345-19355
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Zinc-air batteries are limited by sluggish, reversible oxygen electrocatalysis at the air cathode. High-entropy sulfides (HESs) are introduced as bifunctional oxygen catalysts, leveraging multication disorder to create robust, tunable active sites. Three pyrite-type, single-phase compositions: HES-TM [(FeNiCoCrMn)S2], HES-CuTi [(FeNiCoCuTi)S2], and HES-Co0.4 [(FeNiCo0.4CrMn)S2], exhibit homogeneous elemental distributions and nanoscale particles. Among them, HES-TM delivers the strongest overall bifunctionality (0.94 V), combining lower OER overpotential with more favorable ORR polarization. Koutecký-Levich analysis indicates mixed pathways consistent with partially four-electron ORR. XPS reveals predominantly Co3+ with mixed Ni and Fe valence, while HES-TM shows a higher sulfide (S22–) fraction with a thin SOx surface layer, signatures of stronger metal–sulfur coordination, and optimized *OH/*OOH binding. Despite higher conductivity in HES-CuTi, activity trends confirm that active-site chemistry, not conductivity alone, governs performance. In full zinc-air cells, HES-TM reduces the charge–discharge voltage gap and enhances power and energy delivery, consistent with its low bifunctional index. These results position disorder-engineered pyrite HESs as cost-effective, scalable cathodes and provide design rules that link surface sulfur chemistry and mixed metal valence to reversible oxygen electrocatalysis.