Boosting Efficiency in Piezo-Photocatalysis Process Using Poled Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 Nanorod Arrays for Pollutant Degradation and Hydrogen Production

Recently, the combination of the piezoelectric effect in the photocatalytic process, referred to as piezo-photocatalysis, has gained considerable attention as a promising approach for enhancing the degradation of organic pollutants. In this investigation, we studied the piezo-photocatalysis by fabricating arrays of barium strontium titanate (Ba_0.7Sr_0.3TiO₃) nanorods (BST NRs) on a glass substrate as recoverable catalysts. We found that the degradation rate constant k of the rhodamine B solution achieved 0.0447 min^-1 using poled BST NRs in the piezo-photocatalytic process, indicating a 2-fold increase in efficiency compared to the photocatalytic process (0.00183 min^-1) utilizing the same material. This is mainly ascribed to the generation of the piezopotential in the poled BST NRs under ultrasonic vibration. Moreover, the BST NR array demonstrated a hydrogen (H₂) production rate of 411.5 μmol g^-1 h^-1. In the photoelectrochemical process, the photocurrent density of poled BST NRs achieved 1.97 mA cm^-2 at an applied potential of 1.23 V (E_RHE (reversible hydrogen electrode)) under ultrasonic vibrations, representing a 1.7-fold increase compared with the poled BST NRs without ultrasonic vibrations. The measurement results from the liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer (LC-MS) demonstrated the formulation of a degradation pathway for rhodamine B molecules. Moreover, ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulation results demonstrate the dominance of hydroxyl radicals (^•OH) rather than superoxide radicals (^•O₂^-) in the degradation process. This study not only benefits the understanding of the principle of the piezo-photocatalytic process but also provides a new perspective for improving the catalytic efficiency for organic pollutants degradation.