Nickel carrier transfer bridge for improved photocatalytic water splitting of Zn<sub>2</sub>GeO<sub>4</sub>

Nickel carrier transfer bridge for improved photocatalytic water splitting of Zn₂GeO₄

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Ruiqing Zou^a^,^b, Sibi Liu^a^,^b, Jie Su^c, Weiheng Ding^a^,^b, Yijin Wang^a^,^b, Fei Yan^a^,^b, Peng Guo^a^,^b, Junchao Zhou^a^,^b, Youzi Zhang^a^,^b, Xuanhua Li^a^,^b^,^*

Transactions of Materials Research | 2025, 1(1) : 100006

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Transactions of Materials Research | 2025, 1(1): 100006

• INORGANIC MATERIALS •

Nickel carrier transfer bridge for improved photocatalytic water splitting of Zn₂GeO₄

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Ruiqing Zou^a^,^b, Sibi Liu^a^,^b, Jie Su^c, Weiheng Ding^a^,^b, Yijin Wang^a^,^b, Fei Yan^a^,^b, Peng Guo^a^,^b, Junchao Zhou^a^,^b, Youzi Zhang^a^,^b, Xuanhua Li^a^,^b^,^*

Affiliations

^aState Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Center for Nano Energy Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, 710072, China

^bResearch and Development Institute of Northwestern Polytechnical University, Shenzhen, 518057, China

^cState Key Discipline Laboratory of Wide Band Gap Semiconductor Technology, Shaanxi Joint Key Laboratory of Graphene School of Microelectronics, Xidian University, Xi'an, 710071, China

Published: 2025-04-05 doi: 10.1016/j.tramat.2025.100006

Outline

Abstract

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Photocatalytic water splitting can convert solar energy into hydrogen, which has important implications for reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Constructing heterojunctions is a universal method for facilitating charge transfer, but the poor interface matching limits its charge separation and photocatalytic activity. Here, a metal-nickel bridging (nickel interlayer) NiO-Ni-Zn₂GeO₄ photocatalyst with well interface matching is designed through a partial oxidation strategy. Structure and in situ Raman characterization demonstrate that the nickel interlayer substantially optimizes interface matching and causes the first-order phonon mode transfer from the first-order longitudinal wave to the first-order transverse wave, which implies that NiO acts as the site for hydrogen production and violent surface reaction. Therefore, the nickel interlayer provides a charge transfer channel for carrier separation. Meanwhile, density functional theory calculations prove an optimal hydrogen-oxygen bond-breaking process with 36 % barriers decrease obtained via the effect of nickel interlayer. As a result, NiO-Ni-Zn₂GeO₄ shows the photocatalytic hydrogen production rate of 206.6 μmol g^-1 h^-1, which is over 8 times greater than that of Zn₂GeO₄. This study offers a new approach for designing heterojunctions with well-matched interface and efficient charge separation.

Key words

Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution / Zn₂GeO₄ / Metal-nickel bridging / Charge separation / Interface matching

Cite this Article

Ruiqing Zou, Sibi Liu, Jie Su, Weiheng Ding, Yijin Wang, Fei Yan, Peng Guo, Junchao Zhou, Youzi Zhang, Xuanhua Li. Nickel carrier transfer bridge for improved photocatalytic water splitting of Zn₂GeO₄[J]. Transactions of Materials Research, 2025 , 1 (1) : 100006 - . DOI: 10.1016/j.tramat.2025.100006

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Funding

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Science, Technology, and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality(JCYJ20220818103417036)
National Natural Science Foundation of China(22261142666)
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, the China National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents(BX20230496; BX20240490)
Youth Talent Support Program of Shaanxi Province(20240463)

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Year 2025 volume 1 Issue 1

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Article Info

doi: 10.1016/j.tramat.2025.100006

Receive Date：2025-03-22
Online Date：2026-06-10
Published：2025-04-05

Article Data

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History

Received：2025-03-22
Revised：2025-04-02
Accepted：2025-04-02

Funding

Science, Technology, and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality(JCYJ20220818103417036)

National Natural Science Foundation of China(22261142666)

Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, the China National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents(BX20230496; BX20240490)

Youth Talent Support Program of Shaanxi Province(20240463)

Affiliations

^aState Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Center for Nano Energy Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, 710072, China

^bResearch and Development Institute of Northwestern Polytechnical University, Shenzhen, 518057, China

^cState Key Discipline Laboratory of Wide Band Gap Semiconductor Technology, Shaanxi Joint Key Laboratory of Graphene School of Microelectronics, Xidian University, Xi'an, 710071, China

Corresponding:

^* State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Center for Nano Energy Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, 710072, China. E-mail address: lixh32@nwpu.edu.cn (X. Li).

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表12种不同金属材料的力学参数

科 Family	属数 Number of genus	种数 Number of species	占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%)	属 Genus	种数 Number of species	占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%)
鹅膏菌科Amanitaceae	2	11	5.26	鹅膏菌属 Amanita	10	4.78
小菇科 Mycenaceae	2	12	5.74	丝盖伞属 Inocybe	5	2.39
多孔菌科 Polyporaceae	8	14	6.70	蜡蘑属 Laccaria	5	2.39
红菇科 Russulaceae	3	23	11.00	小皮伞属 Marasmius	6	2.87
				小菇属 Mycena	11	5.26
				光柄菇属 Pluteus	5	2.39
				红菇属 Russula	17	8.13
				栓菌属 Trametes	5	2.39

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