Piezocatalysis is regarded as a fascinating technology for water remediation and possible disease treatment. A high piezoelectric coefficient (d 33 ) is one of the most important parameters to determine piezocatalytic performance, which can be manipulated via phase boundary design. Herein, a novel strategy for excellent piezocatalytic activity in lead-free BaTiO 3 -based materials via manipulating the multiphase coexistence is proposed. The piezocatalyst of 0.82Ba(Ti 0.89 Sn 0.11 )O 3 -0.18(Ba 0.7 Ca 0.3 )TiO 3 (0.82BTS-0.18BCT) with multiphase coexistence is prepared, and a large d 33 can be obtained. As a result, 0.82BTS-0.18BCT exhibits excellent piezocatalytic performance for the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB). Furthermore, the removal rate of RhB could reach more than 90% after vibration for 30 min, and the reaction rate constant (k) could reach 0.0706 min −1 , which is much superior to that of most other representative perovskitestructured piezoelectric materials. Excellent piezocatalytic performance can be attributed to the strong local ferro-/piezoelectric response induced by the multiphase coexistence, as confirmed by the in situ piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM). Finally, the piezocatalytic degradation mechanism is analyzed systemically and proposed. This work not only provides a high-efficiency piezocatalyst but also sheds light on developing efficient BT-based piezocatalysts by manipulating the multiphase coexistence.
Although the piezo‐catalysis is promising for the environmental remediation and biomedicine, the piezo‐catalytic properties of various piezoelectric materials are limited by low carrier concentrations and mobility, and rapid electron‐hole pair recombination, and reported regulating strategies are quite complex and difficult. Herein, a new and simple strategy, integrating phase boundary engineering and defect engineering, to boost the piezo‐catalytic activity of potassium sodium niobate ((K, Na)NbO3, KNN) based materials is innovatively proposed. Tur strategy is validated by exampling 0.96(K0.48Na0.52)Nb0.955Sb0.045O3‐0.04(BixNa4‐3x)0.5ZrO3‐0.3%Fe2O3 material having phase boundary engineering and conducted the defect engineering via the high‐energy sand‐grinding. A high reaction rate constant k of 92.49 × 10−3 min−1 in the sand‐grinding sample is obtained, which is 2.40 times than that of non‐sand‐grinding one and superior to those of other representative lead‐free perovskite piezoelectric materials. Meanwhile, the sand‐grinding sample has remarkable bactericidal properties against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Superior piezo‐catalytic activities originate from the enhanced electron‐hole pair separation and the increased carrier concentration. This study provides a novel method for improving the piezo‐catalytic activities of lead‐free piezoelectric materials and holds great promise for harnessing natural energy and disease treatment.
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