Probing entropy-facilitating superionic conduction in amorphous oxide semiconductors

High ion conductivity at low temperatures remains a serious challenge in materials science, hindering the development of next-generation energy and ionic devices. Here, we report a fundamentally new conduction mechanism in entropy-driven proton transport, which enabled by a hybrid amorphous–crystalline architecture in Eu 0.25 Sm 0.25 Al 0.5 O (ESAO). This material system achieves exceptional proton conductivity of 0.15 S/cm at 550 °C, we successfully architect an amorphous/crystalline hybrid structure via an internal entropy gradient that creates a chemical potential, thermodynamically guiding protons toward high-entropy in disordered regions. This strategy redefines super ion migration as a product of entropy-modulated potential landscapes, verified by HR-TEM, DSC, and spectroscopic characterizations. Compared to a pure amorphous analogue (SAO), ESAO exhibits significantly enhanced ionic transport, confirming the functional role of entropy. Our findings establish entropy as a design parameter not merely a thermodynamic descriptor-opening a broader paradigm for designing superionic materials rooted in configurational physics and energy landscape engineering.