For the purpose of investigating the effect of Zn replacement of In₃Sn on the hydrogen production performance of Al-rich alloy ingots, Al-Ga-In₃Sn alloys with various Zn dosages (0–5 wt.%) were prepared by a traditional melting and casting technique. The phase compositions and microstructures were characterized using X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) with an Energy Dispersed X-ray system (EDS). The SEM results indicate that, with a small amount of Zn instead of In₃Sn, the number and total area of grain boundary (GB) phases will decrease gradually, and the average single GB area will eventually stabilize. The distribution of Zn in the alloy is similar to that of Ga, and an area with high Zn content appeared in the high-Zn-doped sample. The melting behaviors of Al with other metals were measured by DSC. The reaction of these alloys and water were investigated at different temperatures. Compared with Al-Ga-In₃Sn alloy, low addition of Zn changed the composition of GB phase and increased the maximum hydrogen production rate. The reason for the changes in the hydrolysis reaction of Al with the addition of Zn was discussed.

In this study, based on the first-principles calculations, we systematically investigated the electronic and magnetic properties of the transition metal–oxide-incorporated 2D g-C₃N₄ nanosheet (labeled C₃N₄–TM–O, TM = Sc–Mn). The results suggest that the TM–O binds to g-C₃N₄ nanosheets strongly for all systems. We found that the 2D C₃N₄–TM–O framework is ferromagnetic for TM = Sc, Ti, V, Cr, while it is antiferromagnetic for TM = Mn. All the ferromagnetic systems exhibit the half-metallic property. Furthermore, Monte Carlo simulations based on the Heisenberg model suggest that the Curie temperatures (T _c ) of the C₃N₄–TM–O (TM = Sc, Ti, V, Cr) framework are 169 K, 68 K, 203 K, and 190 K, respectively. Based on Bader charge analysis, we found that the origin of the half-metallicity at Fermi energy can be partially attributed to the transfer of electrons from TM atoms to the g-C₃N₄ nanosheet. In addition, we found that not only electrons but also holes can induce half-metallicity for 2D g-C₃N₄ nanosheets, which may help to understand the origin of half-metallicity for graphitic carbon nitride.