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High-performance piezoelectrics are pivotal to various electronic applications including multilayer actuators, sensors, and energy harvesters. Despite the presence of high Lotgering factor F 001 , two key limitations to today's relaxor-PbTiO 3 textured ceramics are low piezoelectric properties relative to single crystals and high texture temperature. In this work, Pb(Yb 1/2 Nb 1/2 )O 3 -Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 -PbTiO 3 (PYN-PMN-PT) textured ceramics with F 001 ∼ 99% were synthesized at only 975 °C through liquid-phase-assisted templated grain growth, where of particular significance is that single-crystal properties, i.e., very large electrostrain S max /E max ∼ 1830 pm V −1 , giant piezoelectric figure of merit d 33 × g 33 ∼ 61.3 × 10 −12 m 2 N −1 , high electromechanical coupling k 33 ∼ 0.90, and Curie temperature T c ∼ 205 °C, were simultaneously achieved. Especially, the S max /E max and d 33 × g 33 values correspond to ∼180% enhancement as compared to the regularly 1200 °C-textured ceramics with F 001 ∼ 96%, representing the highest values ever reported on piezoceramics. Phase-field simulation revealed that grain misorientation has a stronger influence on piezoelectricity than texture fraction. The ultrahigh piezoelectric response achieved here is mainly attributed to effective control of grain orientation features and domain miniaturization. This work provides important guidelines for developing novel ceramics with significantly enhanced functional properties and low synthesis temperature in the future and can also greatly expand application fields of piezoceramics to high-performance, miniaturized electronic devices with multilayer structures.

In this work, we report the enhanced catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol driven by Fe3O4-Au magnetic nanocomposite interface engineering. A facile solvothermal method is employed for Fe3O4 hollow microspheres and Fe3O4-Au magnetic nanocomposite synthesis via a seed deposition process. Complementary structural, chemical composition and valence state studies validate that the as-obtained samples are formed in a pure magnetite phase. A series of characterizations including conventional scanning/transmission electron microscopy (SEM/TEM), Mössbauer spectroscopy, magnetic testing and elemental mapping is conducted to unveil the structural and physical characteristics of the developed Fe3O4-Au magnetic nanocomposites. By adjusting the quantity of Au seeds coating on the polyethyleneimine-dithiocarbamates (PEI-DTC)-modified surfaces of Fe3O4 hollow microspheres, the correlation between the amount of Au seeds and the catalytic ability of Fe3O4-Au magnetic nanocomposites for 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) is investigated systematically. Importantly, bearing remarkable recyclable features, our developed Fe3O4-Au magnetic nanocomposites can be readily separated with a magnet. Such Fe3O4-Au magnetic nanocomposites shine the light on highly efficient catalysts for 4-NP reduction at the mass production level.

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Nowadays, synthetic organic dyes and pigments discharged from numerous industries are causing unprecedentedly severe water environmental pollution, and conventional water treatment processes are hindered due to the corresponding sophisticated aromatic structures, hydrophilic nature, and high stability against light, temperature, etc. Herein, we report an efficient fabrication strategy to develop a new type of highly efficient, low-cost, and magnetically recoverable nanocatalyst, i.e., FePt–Ag nanocomposites, for the reduction of methyl orange (MO) and rhodamine B (RhB), by a facile seed deposition process. X-ray diffraction results elaborate that the as-synthesized FePt–Ag nanocomposites are pure disordered face-centered cubic phase. Transmission electron microscopy studies demonstrate that the amount of Ag seeds deposited onto the surfaces of FePt nanocrystals increases when increasing the additive amount of silver colloids. The linear correlation of the MO and RhB concentration versus reaction time catalyzed by FePt–Ag nanocatalysts is in line with pseudo-first-order kinetics. The reduction rate constants of MO and RhB increase with the increase of the amount of Ag seeds. FePt–Ag nanocomposites show good separation ability and reusability, and could be repeatedly applied for nearly complete reduction of MO and RhB for at least six successive cycles. Such cost-effective and recyclable nanocatalysts provide a new material family for use in environmental protection applications.

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