High-entropy materials offer a wide range of potential applications in the catalysis domain due to their multi-active site characteristics and cocktail effect. However, the development of bifunctional electrocatalysts with both superior efficiency and excellent stability under both industrial preparation and industrial running conditions remains a significant challenge. Herein, a scalable plasma spraying strategy is developed to fabricate FeCoNiCrMn HEA catalysts with multimetal synergy, enabling robust bifunctional activity for oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions (OER/HER). The HEA exhibits ultralow overpotentials of 220 mV (OER) and 69 mV (HER) at 10 mA cm⁻², alongside exceptional durability over 1000 h (OER) and 500 h (HER) at 1000 mA cm⁻². In an anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer (AEMWE), the HEA achieves 1000 mA cm⁻² at merely 2.18 V, outperforming commercial Ni mesh (3.40 V) and Raney Ni (3.03 V) electrode systems. Crucially, stable operation for 200 h at 1000 mA cm⁻² under industrial conditions (1 M KOH, 80 °C) demonstrates the viability of scalable HEA catalysts for practical water splitting. This work bridges the gap between lab-scale innovation and industrial electrocatalyst deployment, offering a promising pathway for large-scale hydrogen production.

At present, the common protection technology of power-transmission and transformation equipment is mainly coating protection and hot-dip zinc protection. However, due to the low adhesion of epoxy zinc-rich coating, and the poor compatibility with top paint, environmental pollution, complex processing, high energy consumption and other defects of the hot-dip zinc process, its development is limited. In view of the above deficiencies, new anti-corrosion coating materials and processes were investigated in this study. Zinc coatings and Al-Zn coatings were prepared on the C45 steel matrix by hot-spraying and cold-spraying processes. The macro appearance, micromorphology and phase composition analysis of the coatings were evaluated. The adhesion of the coating to the substrate after the salt-spray test was tested. The results showed that the hot dip zinc coating and hot spray zinc coating had obvious cracking after the salt-spray test. The surface structure of cold-sprayed Al-Zn coating was relatively dense after the salt-spray test. The critical load of the cold-sprayed Al-Zn coating after the salt-spray test was higher than that of the other two coatings. The corrosion resistance to salt spray of cold-sprayed Al-Zn coating was demonstrated to be better than the hot-dip zinc coating, and thus has great application prospects.

Traditional binary coatings like TiN and CrN display limited thermal stability and wear resistance under extreme conditions. High-entropy alloy nitride (HEAN) coatings offer a promising solution due to their customizable composition and unique properties, including high hardness, corrosion resistance, and thermal stability. This study focused on (AlCrNbTaTi)N HEAN coatings to address a critical need for materials capable of enduring extreme mechanical and tribological demands by examining the impact of aluminum content on their structural and mechanical properties, providing insights for optimizing coatings in harsh conditions through a self-assembled nanolayer structure with enhanced resilience and performance. The coatings were deposited via a cathodic arc by employing an AlCrNbTaTi alloy target composed of aluminum (20, 50, 60, 70%) and equal molar ratios of Cr, Nb, Ta, and Ti. The coatings were characterized through grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, SEM, HR-TEM, a nano-indentation test, and a friction and wear test. The results indicated that with increasing Al content, the structure of (AlCrNbTaTi)N coatings shifted from FCC to an amorphous state, leading to a reduction in the hardness and elastic modulus, accompanied by an increase in the wear rate and friction coefficient. The (AlCrNbTaTi)N coating, with an equal atomic ratio of metallic elements, showed potential as a hard tool coating. It demonstrated outstanding mechanical and tribological properties, with a 34.5 GPa hardness, 369 GPa modulus, 0.35 friction coefficient, and 8.2 × 10⁻¹⁹ m²·N⁻¹ wear rate. The findings highlight the potential of (AlCrNbTaTi)N coatings to extend tool life and improve operational efficiency, helping advance materials engineering for industrial applications.