Dr. Lan Donghui’s Academic Paper Published in Journal of Colloid and Interface Science

Recently, Associate Professor Lan Donghui, a young faculty member of the “Environmental Functional Materials and Pollution Control” technology innovation team at our School of Materials and Chemical Engineering, collaborating with Associate Professor Chen Peng and Professor Liu Fei from Guizhou University, has achieved groundbreaking progress in piezo-photocatalytic overall water splitting. Their research findings, titled “Local polarization redistribution in ZnmIn2S3+m for the enhancing synergetic piezo-photocatalytic overall water splitting,” have been published in the prestigious international journal Journal of Colloid and Interface Science (JCR Q1, TOP journal, IF = 9.9). Dr. Lan is the corresponding author, and our school, Hunan Institute of Engineering, is the corresponding institution.

Dr. Lan closely aligns his research with national strategic needs, supporting the “Peak Carbon Dioxide Emission & Carbon Neutrality” goals through scientific innovation. His team focuses on photocatalytic hydrogen production, using a simple low-temperature hydrothermal method to prepare layered ZnmIn2Sm+3 (m = 1-3) (ZnIn2S4, Zn2In2S5, and Zn3In2S6). Among these materials, Zn2In2S5 exhibits outstanding piezo-photocatalytic overall water splitting performance (H2/O2: 4284.72/1967.00 μmol g-1 h-1), which is 1.77 times higher than other photocatalytic performances. Additionally, the optimized Zn2In2S5 shows significantly enhanced performance in D2O decomposition. The exceptional performance of Zn2In2S5 in ZnmIn2Sm+3 is mainly attributed to structural contraction of Zn-S bonds and enhanced local polarization, which improves piezoelectric response and surface charge accumulation, facilitating charge transfer and reducing water activation energy. This work provides valuable insights for the design of novel piezo-photocatalysts.

His research also focuses on functional carbon materials and nanomaterials for new energy applications. He has led one Hunan-Xiang Youth Talent project, two provincial natural science projects, and two projects funded by the provincial education department. He has published 17 papers as first author or corresponding author (including 10 papers in SCI Q1 journals) and holds 10 authorized patents.

(Reviewed by Wang Jiayi, Gong Qian)