Materials scientists have long pursued advanced microwave absorption materials to address growing electromagnetic pollution challenges in both military stealth and civilian shielding applications. Transition metal dichalcogenides, particularly MoS2, have emerged as promising candidates due to their unique 2D layered structures and tunable electronic properties. However, conventional single-element doping strategies have shown limited effectiveness in achieving broadband absorption, while multi-element high-entropy doping in MoS2 systems remains largely unexplored due to challenges in maintaining phase stability and achieving uniform dopant distribution. The complex interplay between multiple dopants and their collective impact on electromagnetic wave dissipation mechanisms presents a critical research gap in the field of functional materials.
A research team led by Xiaoxiao Huang from Harbin Institute of Technology has developed an innovative modular in-situ/post-solvothermal doping approach to achieve five-element (W, V, Nb, Ta, Ru) high-entropy doping in 1T-phase MoS2. Their work systematically investigated the effects of multi-element co-doping, including lattice strain, crystalline defects, and charge redistribution, which collectively enhance dipole polarization loss. The team's combinatorial screening identified 31 feasible doping configurations, with experimental validation of 9 variants, establishing a framework for designing advanced MoS2-based absorbers. The optimized WVNbTaRu-MoS2 sample demonstrated remarkable performance with a broadband effective absorption bandwidth of 7.65 GHz, more than doubling the capability of undoped counterparts. This research not only provides fundamental insights into high-entropy engineering of transition metal dichalcogenides but also opens new avenues for developing next-generation microwave absorption materials with tailored electromagnetic properties.
The team published their work in Journal of Advanced Ceramics on September 7, 2025.
In our research, we developed a novel modular in-situ/post-solvothermal doping process to achieve five-element (W, V, Nb, Ta, Ru) high-entropy doping in 1T-phase MoS2," said Xiaoxiao Huang, professor at the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology. "The key innovation was maintaining the 1T-phase fraction above 70% while incorporating multiple dopants, as confirmed by our XRD and XPS analyses."
The team's systematic investigation revealed remarkable findings about the doped materials. "Through geometric phase analysis of HRTEM images, we observed that high-entropy doping creates dense strain concentration regions and discontinuous lattice fringes," Huang explained. "These structural modifications induce localized charge accumulation that significantly enhances dipole polarization loss, a crucial mechanism for improved absorption performance."
The optimized WVNbTaRu-MoS2 sample demonstrated exceptional electromagnetic properties. "At 2.09 mm thickness, we achieved a record broadband effective absorption bandwidth of 7.65 GHz, with minimal reflection loss of -61.2 dB," Huang reported. "This performance stems from the balanced coordination of donor (W, Ru) and acceptor (V, Nb, Ta) elements that optimize both impedance matching and attenuation capability."
Looking to future applications, Huang highlighted the material's potential. "Our high-entropy doped MoS2 shows promise for next-generation stealth technologies and electromagnetic shielding," she said. "The modular doping approach could be extended to other transition metal dichalcogenides, opening new possibilities for tailored electromagnetic functional materials."
However, Huang noted several challenges for further development. "Future work should focus on scaling up production, improving environmental stability, and investigating synergistic effects with different nanostructures," she concluded. "We're particularly interested in exploring how these materials perform under extreme conditions relevant to practical applications."
Other contributors include Yuefeng Yan, Ziyan Cheng, Tao Chen, En Zhou, Boshi Gao, Guangyu Qin, Guansheng Ma, Xiaoxiao Huang from the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China.
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 52432002, 52372041), Central Guidance for Local Technology Development Special Fund (ZY25JD14), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. HIT.DZJJ.2025002)
About Author
Xiaoxiao Huang obtained a Bachelor's degree in Metallurgy and Heat Treatment from Jiamusi University, and subsequently earned both Master's and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science from Harbin Institute of Technology. She served as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and a Senior Visiting Scholar at the University of Waterloo in Canada. Since joining the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology in 2005, she has held successive positions as Lecturer, Associate Professor, and Doctoral Supervisor, and is currently a Full Professor.
Dr. Huang's research focuses on lightweight carbon-based microwave-absorbing composites. She has proposed an innovative research framework encompassing controllable raw material preparation, structural regulation, structure-property correlation, and performance enhancement. Her work has addressed critical scientific challenges, including synchronous construction of quantitative heteroatom doping, controllable regulation of hierarchical interfacial structures to mediate dielectric polarization mechanisms, and inverse intelligent design of composite phases and structures. These advances have enabled the development of lightweight, ultrathin, and high-performance microwave-absorbing composites that maintain strong electromagnetic wave attenuation capabilities while achieving optimized impedance matching. She has published over 200 papers in internationally peer-reviewed journals and achieved an h-index of 36.
She has received numerous awards and honors. In 2025, she was selected as National-Level High-Tier Talent. Her distinctions include the Second Prize of the Heilongjiang Province Natural Science Award (2021), the Heilongjiang Provincial Technology Invention Award (2018), the National University "Dual-Leader" Party Branch Secretary Studio (2021), the "Longjiang Scholar" Distinguished Professorship of Heilongjiang Province (2020), and the First Prize in Heilongjiang Higher Education Teaching Achievement Award (2022).
About Journal of Advanced Ceramics
Journal of Advanced Ceramics (JAC) is an international academic journal that presents the state-of-the-art results of theoretical and experimental studies on the processing, structure, and properties of advanced ceramics and ceramic-based composites. JAC is Fully Open Access, monthly published by Tsinghua University Press, and exclusively available via SciOpen. JAC’s 2024 IF is 16.6, ranking in Top 1 (1/33, Q1) among all journals in “Materials Science, Ceramics” category, and its 2024 CiteScore is 25.9 (5/130) in Scopus database. ResearchGate homepage: https://www.researchgate.net/journal/Journal-of-Advanced-Ceramics-2227-8508
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