Entropy-related phase stabilization can allow compositionally complex solid solutions of multiple principal elements. The massive mixing approach was originally introduced for metals and has recently been extended to ionic, semiconductor, polymer and low-dimensional materials. Multielement mixing can leverage new types of random, weakly ordered clustering and precipitation states in bulk materials as well as at interfaces and dislocations. The many possible atomic configurations offer opportunities to discover and exploit new functionalities, as well as to create new local symmetry features, ordering phenomena and interstitial configurations. This opens up a huge chemical and structural space in which uncharted phase states, defect chemistries, mechanisms and properties, some previously thought to be mutually exclusive, can be reconciled in one material. Earlier research concentrated on mechanical properties such as strength, toughness, fatigue and ductility. This Review shifts the focus towards multifunctional property profiles, including electronic, electrochemical, mechanical, magnetic, catalytic, hydrogen-related, Invar and caloric characteristics. Disruptive design opportunities lie in combining several of these features, rendering high-entropy materials multifunctional without sacrificing their unique mechanical properties.

与熵相关的相稳定可以允许多个主要元素的组成复杂的固溶体。大规模混合方法最初是针对金属引入的，最近已扩展到离子、半导体、聚合物和低维材料。多元素混合可以利用散装材料以及界面和位错中的新型随机、弱有序聚类和沉淀状态。许多可能的原子配置提供了发现和利用新功能以及创建新的局部对称特征、有序现象和间隙配置的机会。这开辟了一个巨大的化学和结构空间，其中一些以前被认为是相互排斥的未知相态、缺陷化学、机制和性质可以在一种材料中得到协调。早期的研究集中在强度、韧性、疲劳和延展性等机械性能上。本综述将重点转向多功能特性，包括电子、电化学、机械、磁性、催化、氢相关、殷钢和热量特性。颠覆性设计机会在于结合其中的几个特征，使高熵材料具有多功能性，同时又不牺牲其独特的机械性能。