Zitao Ni

Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering

Research

Research

My research focuses on microwave-assisted heating for energy catalysis, photocatalytic materials for solar cells and water splitting, and heterojunction materials design. My work spans from natural polymer modification during my undergraduate years to silicon/organic thin-film integrated solar cells during my master’s, and ultimately to energy catalysis driven by microwave-assisted heating during my doctoral studies.

Journal Publications

First / Co-first & Corresponding Author

  1. Ni, Z., Hojo, H., & Einaga, H. “Microwave-Assisted Heating for Dehydration of Ethanol to Ethylene Using HPW/SBA-15.” Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 64(5), 2686–2695, 2025. [PDF]

  2. Liu, Y., Ni, Z., Peng, L., Wu, H., Liu, Z., Wang, Y., Ma, W., & Konstantatos, G. “Vacancy-Catalyzed Cation Homogenization for High-Performance AgBiS2 Nanocrystal Solar Cells.” ACS Energy Letters, 10(4), 2068–2074, 2025. [PDF] (Co-first author)

  3. Long, Y., Yang, L., Xi, M., Zhao, Y., Zhang, H., Liu, T., Chen, A., An, X., Hu, G., Ni, Z. “Modulating the Local Charge Distribution of Single-Atomic Ru Sites for an Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.” Carbon Energy, 7(5), e690, 2025. [PDF] (Corresponding author)

  4. Ni, Z., Hojo, H., & Einaga, H. “Comparative Evaluation of Microwave Heating Performance across Structurally Diverse Tungsten Oxides.” The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 128(33), 13807–13815, 2024. [PDF]

  5. Yang, L., Ni, Z., Zhao, Y., Long, Y., Xi, M., Chen, A., & Zhang, H. “Interfacial Electric Field Stabilized Ru Single-Atom Catalysts for Efficient Water Oxidation.” ACS Catalysis, 2024. [PDF] (Co-first author)

  6. Chen, J., Zhao, Y., Zhao, S., Zhang, H., Long, Y., Yang, L., Xi, M., Ni, Z., Zhou, Y., et al. “Heterogeneous Bimetallic Oxides/Phosphides Nanorod with Upshifted d Band Center for Efficient Overall Water Splitting.” Chinese Chemical Letters, 35(9), 109268, 2024. [PDF] (Corresponding author)

  7. Zhao, Y., Zhang, H., Chen, J., Zhao, S., Xi, M., Yang, L., Long, Y., Ni, Z., Zhou, Y., et al. “Interfacial Electronic Engineering of Heterostructured Co2P-MoNiP/NF Nano-Sea-Urchin Catalysts for Efficient and Stable Hydrogen Evolution via Water/Seawater Splitting.” Chemical Engineering Journal, 477, 147092, 2023. [PDF] (Corresponding author)

  8. Ni, Z., Ding, S., Zhang, H., Dai, R., Chen, A., Wang, R., Zhang, J., Zhou, Y., Yang, J., et al. “Phosphorus and Selenium Co-Doped WO3 Nanoparticles for Interface Modification and Photovoltaic Properties Enhancement of Monolayer Planar Silicon/PEDOT.” Advanced Materials Interfaces, 9(21), 2200812, 2022. [PDF]

  9. Ni, Z., Fan, W., Sun, T., Wang, R., Yang, J., Zhang, J., Zhou, Y., Chen, A., Yang, Y., et al. “The Degradation Kinetics Study of Aromatic Organics with Different Functional Compounds on Anatase 001 Surface.” Nano, 15(07), 2050087, 2020. [PDF]

Collaborative Papers

2025

  1. Yan, J.-L., Tian, D.-L., Yang, L.-F., Xi, M., Long, Y.-Y., Ni, Z.-T., Zhang, H., & Chen, A.-R. “Engineering the Strong Metal–Support Interaction of Ni Nanoparticles and MoO2 Nanowires for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.” Rare Metals, 1–13, 2025. [PDF]

  2. Shi, G., Ding, X., Liu, Z., Liu, Y., Chen, Y., Liu, C., Ni, Z., Wang, H., Ito, K., Igarashi, K., et al. “Overcoming Efficiency and Cost Barriers for Large-Area Quantum Dot Photovoltaics through Stable Ink Engineering.” Nature Energy, 10(5), 592–604, 2025. [PDF]

  3. Zhou, Z., Su, Y., Tan, H., Wang, Y., Huang, Q., Wang, H., Wang, J., Kubo, M., Ni, Z., et al. “Atomically Dispersed Co–P Moieties via Direct Thermal Exfoliation for Alkaline Hydrogen Electrosynthesis.” Journal of the American Chemical Society, 147(5), 3994–4004, 2025. [PDF]

2023

  1. Zhang, H., Aierke, A., Zhou, Y., Ni, Z., Feng, L., Chen, A., Wågberg, T., & Hu, G. “A High-Performance Transition-Metal Phosphide Electrocatalyst for Converting Solar Energy into Hydrogen at 19.6% STH Efficiency.” Carbon Energy, 5(1), e217, 2023. [PDF]

2022

  1. Zhang, H., Zhou, Y., Xu, M., Chen, A., Ni, Z., Akdim, O., Wågberg, T., Huang, X., et al. “Interface Engineering on Amorphous/Crystalline Hydroxides/Sulfides Heterostructure Nanoarrays for Enhanced Solar Water Splitting.” ACS Nano, 17(1), 636–647, 2022. [PDF]

  2. Wang, Z., Zhu, C., Ni, Z., Hojo, H., & Einaga, H. “Enhanced Photocatalytic Benzene Oxidation to Phenol over Monoclinic WO3 Nanorods under Visible Light.” ACS Catalysis, 12(24), 14976–14989, 2022. [PDF]

  3. Dai, R., Zhang, H., Zhou, W., Zhou, Y., Ni, Z., Chen, J., Zhao, S., Zhao, Y., Yu, F., et al. “Interface Engineering of Bimetallic Nitrides Nanowires as a Highly Efficient Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Water Splitting.” Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 919, 165862, 2022. [PDF]

2021

  1. Zhang, H., Li, H., Niu, S., Zhou, Y., Ni, Z., Wei, Q., Chen, A., Zhang, S., Sun, T., Dai, R., et al. “Bifunctional Heterostructured Nitrogen and Phosphorus Co-Doped Carbon-Layer-Encapsulated Co2P Electrocatalyst for Efficient Water Splitting.” Cell Reports Physical Science, 2(10), 2021. [PDF]

  2. Zhang, H., Zhou, Y., Chen, J., Wang, Z., Ni, Z., Wei, Q., Chen, A., Li, M., Sun, T., Jin, Z., et al. “3D Melamine Sponge-Derived Cobalt Nanoparticle-Embedded N-Doped Carbon Nanocages as Efficient Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction.” ACS Omega, 6(31), 20130–20138, 2021. [PDF]

2020

  1. Fang, W., Wang, P., Ni, Z., Sun, T., Xiang, C., Yue, K., Wang, R., Yang, J., Zhou, Y., et al. “Planar Organic-Si Hybrid Solar Cell with MoOx Mixed PEDOT:PSS as Hole Injection Layer Profits from Mo5+ and Mo6+ Synergistic Effects.” Advanced Materials Interfaces, 7(19), 2000754, 2020. [PDF]

  2. Fang, W., Ni, Z., Wang, P., Xiang, C., Sun, T., Zhang, J., Wang, R., Yang, J., & Yang, Y. “The Ideal Doping Concentration of Silicon Wafer for Single Junction Hybrid n-Si/PEDOT:PSS Solar Cells with 3.2% Elevated PCE and Voc of 620 mV.” Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, 31(8), 6398–6405, 2020. [PDF]

Conference Publications

  1. Ni, Z., Fang, W., Sun, T., & Yang, Y.* “Investigation of n-Si/PEDOT:PSS Heterojunction Solar Cell Performance and PEDOT:PSS Modification.” China SoG Silicon and PV Power Conference (CSPV), Shanghai, China. (Oral Presentation, Accepted)

  2. Ni, Z., Hojo, H., & Einaga, H.* “Comparative Evaluation of Microwave Heating Performance across Structurally Diverse Tungsten Oxides.” 9th Asia-Pacific Congress on Catalysis (APCAT-9), Hangzhou, China. (Oral Presentation, Accepted)

  3. Ni, Z., Hojo, H., & Einaga, H.* “Microwave-Assisted Heating for Dehydration of Ethanol to Ethylene Using HPW/SBA-15.” The 5th Global Congress on Microwave Energy Applications 2024 (5GCMEA), Fukuoka, Japan. (Oral Presentation, Accepted)

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