Bi3O4Br nanoplates as an efficient piezo-photocatalyst for organic dye degradation

The layered Bi 3 O 4 Br nanoplates were synthesized through a simple calcination process, which can simultaneously harvest visible light and ultrasonic vibration to realize the effective piezo-photocatalysis. The piezo-photocatalysis over the Bi 3 O 4 Br leads to a great enhancement in catalytic efficiency with respect to the pure photocatalysis or piezocatalysis. The apparent rate constant of piezo-photocatalysis for the degradation of MO achieves to be 0.008 min[Formula: see text], which is 5.20 and 1.51 times as high as the individual piezocatalysis and photocatalysis, respectively. This enhancement would be attributed to the built-in piezoelectric field induced by ultrasonic vibration facilitating the separation of charge carriers in photoexcited Bi 3 O 4 Br.