Chemical co-precipitation synthesis of high-entropy rare-earth silicate nanopowders

The synthesis of high-quality nanopowders is crucial to developing high-performance, high-entropy rare-earth silicates (HERESs). Herein, we report the synthesis of HERES nanopowders, including high-entropy rare-earth monosilicates (HEREMs) and high-entropy rare-earth disilicates (HEREDs), via a simple chemical co-precipitation method for the first time. By rationally optimizing the synthesis conditions, monoclinic HEREM nanopowders can be well synthesized with highly uniform element distributions. The formation of HEREM nanoparticles is governed by the production of the precursor from the co-precipitation reactions between rare-earth hydroxide and silicic acid at the atomic scale, followed by the dehydration of precursor skeletons. Furthermore, the validation of using this approach to prepare HERED nanopowders is also confirmed. This research will open up a new research area in synthesizing HERES nanopowders.