J. Mater. Sci. Technol. ›› 2026, Vol. 266: 163-169.DOI: 10.1016/j.jmst.2025.11.055

• Research article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Facilitated charge separation induced by Ni-doping in hollow Z-scheme heterojunction for photocatalytic coupling benzylamine oxidation with hydrogen evolution

Xu Shuanga,1, Bao Tengfeia,1, Li Shuminga,1, Li Xuejinga, Rao Henga, Weng-ChonCheongb,*, She Pinga,*, Qin Jun-Shenga   

  1. aState Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, International Center of Future Science, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China;
    bMacao Institute of Materials Science and Engineering (MIMSE), Faculty of Innovation Engineering (FIE), Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa 999078, Macao SAR, China
  • Received:2025-09-05 Revised:2025-11-06 Accepted:2025-11-23 Published:2026-09-20 Online:2025-12-11
  • Contact: *E-mail addresses: wccheong@must.edu.mo (W.-C. Cheong), sheping@jlu.edu.cn(P. She).
  • About author:1 These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract: Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (PHE) is an effective method to alleviate environmental pollution and energy crises. However, a single catalyst is faced with rapid carrier recombination and insufficient active sites. Herein, we doped the Ni element on a hollow structured Z-scheme heterojunction of ZnIn2S4 (ZIS) and CdS through an in-situ method. The construction of the direct Z-scheme heterojunction interface induces a strong redox potential and enhances the separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers. The doping of Ni not only provides more active sites but also can generate new electron states for facilitated charge separation and enhanced light absorption. As a result, the optimized HCdS@Ni-ZIS (HZN) showed excellent PHE (20.43 mmol g-1 h-1) and oxidative coupling of benzylamine (BA) with a conversion rate of 173.00 mmol g-1 h-1. Moreover, the excellent bifunctional photocatalytic performance is even better than some noble metal-based photocatalysts. This work presented here provides a facile approach for constructing efficient bifunctional catalysts for solar-driven energy conversion.

Key words: Photocatalysis, Hydrogen evolution, Hollow structure, ZnIn2S4 (ZIS), CdS