Ferroelectric BaTiO 3/Pr 2O 3 heterojunction harvesting room-temperature cold–hot alternation energy for efficiently pyrocatalytic dye decomposition

The strong pyrocatalytic dye decomposition of the BaTiO₃/Pr₂O₃ heterojunction catalyst under cold-hot alternation conditions has been demonstrated in this work. For the pure BaTiO₃ nanofibers, ~54% rhodamine B (RhB) dye is decomposed under 29–57 ℃ cold-hot alternation. With the loading content of Pr₂O₃ increases from 0 to 4 wt%, the pyrocatalytic decomposition ratio of the RhB solution increased first and then decreases, eventually achieving a maximum of 91% at 3.0 wt%. The enhanced pyrocatalytic performance after loading Pr₂O₃ can be attributed to the internal electric field of the heterojunction, which effectively separates the positive and negative charges. The strongly pyrocatalytic performance of BaTiO₃/Pr₂O₃ makes it hopeful for application in dye wastewater treatment through harvesting the environmental cold-hot temperature alternation thermal energy in future.