Advances in Piezo‐Phototronic Effect Enhanced Photocatalysis and Photoelectrocatalysis

The storage/utilization of solar energy is a promising strategy to alleviate current disparities in energy shortage Direct conversion of solar light into chemical energy by means of photocatalysis or photoelectrocatalysis is currently a point of focus for sustainable energy development and environmental remediation. However, its current efficiency is still far from satisfying, suffering especially from severe charge recombination. To solve this problem, the piezo-phototronic effect has emerged as one of the most effective strategies for photo(electro)catalysis. Through the integration of piezoelectricity, photoexcitation, and semiconductor properties, the built-in electric field by mechanical stimulation induced polarization can serve as a flexible autovalve to modulate the charge-transfer pathway and facilitate carrier separation both in the bulk phase and at the surfaces of semiconductors. This review focuses on illustrating the trends and impacts of research based on piezo-enhanced photocatalytic reactions. The fundamental mechanisms of piezo-phototronics modulated band bending and charge migration are highlighted. Through comparing and classifying different categories of piezo-photocatalysts (like the typical ZnO, MoS2, and BaTiO3), the recent advances in polarization-promoted photo(electro)catalytic processes involving water splitting and pollutant degradation are overviewed. Meanwhile the optimization methods to promote their catalytic activities are described. Finally, the outlook for future development of polarization-enhanced strategies is presented.

[1]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Electrostatic potential in a bent piezoelectric nanowire. The fundamental theory of nanogenerator and nanopiezotronics. , 2007, Nano letters.

[2]  Yihe Zhang,et al.  Controllable synthesis of multi-responsive ferroelectric layered perovskite-like Bi4Ti3O12: Photocatalysis and piezoelectric-catalysis and mechanism insight , 2017 .

[3]  Amit Kumar,et al.  Emergent Low‐Symmetry Phases and Large Property Enhancements in Ferroelectric KNbO3 Bulk Crystals , 2017, Advanced materials.

[4]  Zhong Lin Wang.  The new field of nanopiezotronics , 2007 .

[5]  G. Madras,et al.  Trapping a Metastable Ferroelectric Phase by Size Reduction in Semiconducting Ferroelectric BiFeO 3 -PbTiO 3 and Its Implications for Photocatalytic Response , 2017 .

[6]  Yuanhua Lin,et al.  Enhanced catalytic performance by multi-field coupling in KNbO3 nanostructures: Piezo-photocatalytic and ferro-photoelectrochemical effects , 2019, Nano Energy.

[7]  Jing Ren,et al.  High efficiency bi-harvesting light/vibration energy using piezoelectric zinc oxide nanorods for dye decomposition , 2019, Nano Energy.

[8]  Qi Xu,et al.  Insights into the Role of Ferroelectric Polarization in Piezocatalysis of Nanocrystalline BaTiO3. , 2018, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[9]  Youfan Hu,et al.  Designing the electric transport characteristics of ZnO micro/nanowire devices by coupling piezoelectric and photoexcitation effects. , 2010, ACS nano.

[10]  V. Karpov,et al.  Piezo-effect and physics of CdS-based thin-film photovoltaics , 2005 .

[11]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution by plasmonic and piezotronic effects based on periodic Al/BaTiO3 heterostructures , 2019, Nano Energy.

[12]  Dan-Ting Tan,et al.  On the metal/ZnO contacts in a sliding-bending piezoelectric nanogenerator , 2018, Nano Energy.

[13]  Yanmin Jia,et al.  High-efficiency and mechano-/photo- bi-catalysis of piezoelectric-ZnO@ photoelectric-TiO2 core-shell nanofibers for dye decomposition. , 2017, Chemosphere.

[14]  Hisato Yamaguchi,et al.  Photoluminescence from chemically exfoliated MoS2. , 2011, Nano letters.

[15]  J. Wu,et al.  Effect of Controlled Oxygen Vacancy on H2‐Production through the Piezocatalysis and Piezophototronics of Ferroelectric R3C ZnSnO3 Nanowires , 2019, Advanced Functional Materials.

[16]  Y. Xiong,et al.  Enhancement and mechanism of nano-BaTiO3 piezocatalytic degradation of tricyclazole by co-loading Pt and RuO2 , 2019, Environmental Science: Nano.

[17]  Qian Wang,et al.  Phase-selective synthesis of 1T′ MoS2 monolayers and heterophase bilayers , 2018, Nature Materials.

[18]  Fang Zhang,et al.  Enhanced Performance of Flexible ZnO Nanowire Based Room‐Temperature Oxygen Sensors by Piezotronic Effect , 2013, Advanced materials.

[19]  I. Willner,et al.  Hydrogen-bonded CdS nanoparticle assemblies on electrodes for photoelectrochemical applications. , 2005, Angewandte Chemie.

[20]  Hexing Li,et al.  Engineering spherical lead zirconate titanate to explore the essence of piezo-catalysis , 2017 .

[21]  Caofeng Pan,et al.  Piezotronic Effect on the Transport Properties of GaN Nanobelts for Active Flexible Electronics , 2012, Advanced materials.

[22]  A. Fujishima,et al.  Electrochemical Photolysis of Water at a Semiconductor Electrode , 1972, Nature.

[23]  Xudong Wang,et al.  Ferroelectric Polarization-Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting in TiO2-BaTiO3 Core-Shell Nanowire Photoanodes. , 2015, Nano letters.

[24]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Piezoelectric‐Effect‐Enhanced Full‐Spectrum Photoelectrocatalysis in p–n Heterojunction , 2019, Advanced Functional Materials.

[25]  Zhiyuan Gao,et al.  Effects of piezoelectric potential on the transport characteristics of metal-ZnO nanowire-metal field effect transistor. , 2009, Journal of applied physics.

[26]  Ya Xiong,et al.  Enhancement effect in the piezoelectric degradation of organic pollutants by piezo-Fenton process , 2017 .

[27]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Vertically aligned CdSe nanowire arrays for energy harvesting and piezotronic devices. , 2012, ACS nano.

[28]  J. Wu,et al.  Ultrahigh efficient degradation activity of single- and few-layered MoSe2 nanoflowers in dark by piezo-catalyst effect , 2017 .

[29]  Xuan Liu,et al.  Dual templating fabrication of hierarchical porous three-dimensional ZnO/carbon nanocomposites for enhanced photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical activity , 2018 .

[30]  Guangmei Xia,et al.  Enhanced β-crystalline phase in poly(vinylidene fluoride) films by polydopamine-coated BaTiO3 nanoparticles , 2015 .

[31]  Caofeng Pan,et al.  Piezo‐Phototronic Effect for Enhanced Flexible MoS2/WSe2 van der Waals Photodiodes , 2018, Advanced Functional Materials.

[32]  Yihe Zhang,et al.  The Role of Polarization in Photocatalysis. , 2019, Angewandte Chemie.

[33]  Wenhui Feng,et al.  Enhanced selectivity of methane production for photocatalytic reduction by the piezoelectric effect. , 2017, Chemical communications.

[34]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Progress in piezotronics and piezo-phototronics of quantum materials , 2019, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics.

[35]  Chih-Kai Chang,et al.  Piezo‐Catalytic Effect on the Enhancement of the Ultra‐High Degradation Activity in the Dark by Single‐ and Few‐Layers MoS2 Nanoflowers , 2016, Advanced materials.

[36]  Qing Yang,et al.  Fundamental theories of piezotronics and piezo-phototronics , 2015 .

[37]  S. Ray,et al.  Enhanced UV–visible photodetection characteristics of a flexible Si membrane-ZnO heterojunction utilizing piezo-phototronic effect , 2017 .

[38]  U. Waghmare,et al.  Two-Dimensional Rectangular and Honeycomb Lattices of NbN: Emergence of Piezoelectric and Photocatalytic Properties at Nanoscale. , 2016, Nano letters.

[39]  Caofeng Pan,et al.  Progress in piezotronic and piezo-phototronic effect of 2D materials , 2018, 2D Materials.

[40]  C. Falconi,et al.  Piezotronics and piezo-phototronics with third-generation semiconductors , 2018, MRS Bulletin.

[41]  M. Jaroniec,et al.  All‐Solid‐State Z‐Scheme Photocatalytic Systems , 2014, Advanced materials.

[42]  Xiwen Zhang,et al.  Piezo-phototronic effect improved performance of n-ZnO nano-arrays/p-Cu2O film based pressure sensor synthesized on flexible Cu foil , 2017 .

[43]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  p‐Type MoS2 and n‐Type ZnO Diode and Its Performance Enhancement by the Piezophototronic Effect , 2016, Advanced materials.

[44]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Recent Progress in Piezo‐Phototronic Effect Enhanced Solar Cells , 2018, Advanced Functional Materials.

[45]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Heterostructured nanorod array with piezophototronic and plasmonic effect for photodynamic bacteria killing and wound healing , 2018 .

[46]  Chang-feng Yan,et al.  Piezoelectric materials for catalytic/photocatalytic removal of pollutants: Recent advances and outlook , 2019, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental.

[47]  Zheng Zhang,et al.  High output piezoelectric nanocomposite generators composed of oriented BaTiO3 NPs@PVDF , 2015 .

[48]  Qingliang Liao,et al.  Interface Engineering for Modulation of Charge Carrier Behavior in ZnO Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting , 2019, Advanced Functional Materials.

[49]  Yihe Zhang,et al.  Ferroelectric polarization promoted bulk charge separation for highly efficient CO2 photoreduction of SrBi4Ti4O15 , 2019, Nano Energy.

[50]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Piezotronics and Piezo-phototronics of Third Generation Semiconductor Nanowires. , 2019, Chemical reviews.

[51]  Zhong Lin Wang.  Piezotronics and piezo-phototronics , 2012, 70th Device Research Conference.

[52]  Weidong He,et al.  Piezotronic-effect-enhanced Ag2S/ZnO photocatalyst for organic dye degradation , 2017 .

[53]  H. Lin,et al.  Synergistic piezophotocatalytic and photoelectrochemical performance of poly(vinylidene fluoride)–ZnSnO3 and poly(methyl methacrylate)–ZnSnO3 nanocomposites , 2017 .

[54]  Rahul Vaish,et al.  BaTiO3-based piezoelectrics: Fundamentals, current status, and perspectives , 2017 .

[55]  Heh-Nan Lin,et al.  Exploitation of piezoelectricity for enhancing photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanowires , 2014 .

[56]  Jiangping Ma,et al.  Lead-free sodium niobate nanowires with strong piezo-catalysis for dye wastewater degradation , 2019, Ceramics International.

[57]  Jinhua Ye,et al.  Synergetic Exfoliation and Lateral Size Engineering of MoS2 for Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation. , 2018, Small.

[58]  K. Chang,et al.  Piezopotential‐Induced Schottky Behavior of Zn1−xSnO3 Nanowire Arrays and Piezophotocatalytic Applications , 2016 .

[59]  Yang Zhang,et al.  Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Effects on the Optical Process in Advanced Materials and Devices , 2018, Advanced materials.

[60]  Tianfeng Li,et al.  Piezo‐Phototronic Effect Enhanced Flexible Solar Cells Based on n‐ZnO/p‐SnS Core–Shell Nanowire Array , 2016, Advanced science.

[61]  N. Khare,et al.  Flexible PVDF/Cu/PVDF-NaNbO3 photoanode with ferroelectric properties: An efficient tuning of photoelectrochemical water splitting with electric field polarization and piezophototronic effect , 2017 .

[62]  Chunying Chao,et al.  Ferroelectric polarization-enhanced photocatalytic properties and photo-induced charge carrier behavior of Au/BaTiO3 , 2020, Journal of Alloys and Compounds.

[63]  Li Wang,et al.  Polarization-enhanced direct Z-scheme ZnO-WO3-x nanorod arrays for efficient piezoelectric-photoelectrochemical water splitting , 2019, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental.

[64]  Yanmin Jia,et al.  Strong vibration-catalysis of ZnO nanorods for dye wastewater decolorization via piezo-electro-chemical coupling. , 2018, Chemosphere.

[65]  Haoxuan He,et al.  High Piezo-photocatalytic Efficiency of CuS/ZnO Nanowires Using Both Solar and Mechanical Energy for Degrading Organic Dye. , 2016, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[66]  Xiaogan Li,et al.  Piezo‐Phototronic Effect on Selective Electron or Hole Transport through Depletion Region of Vis–NIR Broadband Photodiode , 2017, Advanced materials.

[67]  Zhong‐Lin Wang,et al.  Fundamental Theory of Piezotronics , 2011, Advanced materials.

[68]  Zijun Sun,et al.  A cocatalyst-free CdS nanorod/ZnS nanoparticle composite for high-performance visible-light-driven hydrogen production from water , 2016 .

[69]  Wanlin Guo,et al.  Electronic and Mechanical Coupling in Bent ZnO Nanowires , 2009, Advanced materials.

[70]  Ming Liu,et al.  When C3N4 meets BaTiO3: Ferroelectric polarization plays a critical role in building a better photocatalyst , 2020 .

[71]  Zhong‐Lin Wang,et al.  Piezophototronic Effect in Single‐Atomic‐Layer MoS2 for Strain‐Gated Flexible Optoelectronics , 2016, Advanced materials.

[72]  K. Domen,et al.  Particulate photocatalysts for overall water splitting , 2017 .

[73]  Qiang Wang,et al.  Enhanced piezo/solar-photocatalytic activity of Ag/ZnO nanotetrapods arising from the coupling of surface plasmon resonance and piezophototronic effect , 2017 .

[74]  Yan Zhang,et al.  Theory of piezotronics and piezo-phototronics , 2018, MRS Bulletin.

[75]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Piezotronic Effect Enhanced Plasmonic Photocatalysis by AuNPs/BaTiO3 Heterostructures , 2019, Advanced Functional Materials.

[76]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Enhanced Cu₂S/CdS coaxial nanowire solar cells by piezo-phototronic effect. , 2012, Nano letters.

[77]  Jianlin Shi.  Single-Atom Co-Doped MoS2 Monolayers for Highly Active Biomass Hydrodeoxygenation , 2017 .

[78]  Zi Jing Wong,et al.  Observation of piezoelectricity in free-standing monolayer MoS₂. , 2015, Nature nanotechnology.

[79]  Yugang Sun,et al.  Piezoelectricity induced water splitting and formation of hydroxyl radical from active edge sites of MoS2 nanoflowers , 2018 .

[80]  Tao Yu,et al.  Enhanced Photocatalytic Water Splitting Properties of KNbO3 Nanowires Synthesized through Hydrothermal Method , 2008 .

[81]  Yang Bai,et al.  Enhanced piezo-phototronic effect of ZnO nanorod arrays for harvesting low mechanical energy , 2019, Ceramics International.

[82]  Huifang Xu,et al.  Direct Water Splitting Through Vibrating Piezoelectric Microfibers in Water , 2010 .

[83]  Geon-Tae Hwang,et al.  Piezoelectric BaTiO₃ thin film nanogenerator on plastic substrates. , 2010, Nano letters.

[84]  Christopher R. Bowen,et al.  Piezoelectric and ferroelectric materials and structures for energy harvesting applications , 2014 .

[85]  H. Zhang,et al.  The fabrication, microstructure, photo-catalysis and piezo-catalysis of layered TiO2-MoS2 , 2018, Materials Research Express.

[86]  Y. Xiong,et al.  Significant improvement and mechanism of ultrasonic inactivation to Escherichia coli with piezoelectric effect of hydrothermally synthesized t-BaTiO3. , 2018 .

[87]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Piezoelectric field effect transistor and nanoforce sensor based on a single ZnO nanowire. , 2006, Nano letters.

[88]  Maolin Zhang,et al.  Piezotronics enhanced photocatalytic activities of Ag-BaTiO3 plasmonic photocatalysts , 2019, Journal of Alloys and Compounds.

[89]  N. Khare,et al.  Coupling of piezoelectric, semiconducting and photoexcitation properties in NaNbO 3 nanostructures for controlling electrical transport: Realizing an efficient piezo-photoanode and piezo-photocatalyst , 2017 .

[90]  K. Domen,et al.  Particulate Photocatalysts for Light-Driven Water Splitting: Mechanisms, Challenges, and Design Strategies. , 2020, Chemical reviews.

[91]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Piezoelectric gated diode of a single zno nanowire , 2007 .

[92]  Zhong‐Lin Wang,et al.  Progress in Piezotronics and Piezo‐Phototronics , 2012, Advanced materials.

[93]  I. Kim,et al.  Vertically aligned epitaxial KNbO3 nanorod array for piezoelectric energy harvester and second harmonic generator , 2015 .

[94]  Zong-Hong Lin,et al.  High efficient degradation of dye molecules by PDMS embedded abundant single-layer tungsten disulfide and their antibacterial performance , 2018 .

[95]  J. Yeom,et al.  A Floatable Piezo-Photocatalytic Platform Based on Semi-Embedded ZnO Nanowire Array for High-Performance Water Decontamination , 2019, Nano-micro letters.

[96]  Yawei Feng,et al.  Fluid eddy induced piezo-promoted photodegradation of organic dye pollutants in wastewater on ZnO nanorod arrays/3D Ni foam , 2017 .

[97]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Piezotronics and piezo-phototronics for adaptive electronics and optoelectronics , 2016 .

[98]  Li Wang,et al.  Rational Design and Construction of Cocatalysts for Semiconductor‐Based Photo‐Electrochemical Oxygen Evolution: A Comprehensive Review , 2018, Advanced science.

[99]  Xueyan Huang,et al.  Integration of piezoelectric effect into a Au/ZnO photocatalyst for efficient charge separation , 2019, Catalysis Science & Technology.

[100]  Zheng Jiang,et al.  Manipulating spin polarization of titanium dioxide for efficient photocatalysis , 2020, Nature Communications.

[101]  D. Bao,et al.  Effective enhancement of piezocatalytic activity of BaTiO3 nanowires under ultrasonic vibration , 2018 .

[102]  Yong Qin,et al.  Piezotronic Effect Enhanced Photocatalysis in Strained Anisotropic ZnO/TiO₂ Nanoplatelets via Thermal Stress. , 2016, ACS nano.

[103]  Caofeng Pan,et al.  Two-dimensional nanomaterials for novel piezotronics and piezophototronics , 2018, Materials Today Nano.

[104]  Zhiyi Wu,et al.  Ferroelectricity‐Enhanced Piezo‐Phototronic Effect in 2D V‐Doped ZnO Nanosheets , 2019, Advanced science.

[105]  Haoxuan He,et al.  Enhanced H2 Production of TiO2/ZnO Nanowires Co-Using Solar and Mechanical Energy through Piezo-Photocatalytic Effect , 2018, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

[106]  Y. Lei,et al.  Switchable charge-transfer in the photoelectrochemical energy-conversion process of ferroelectric BiFeO₃ photoelectrodes. , 2014, Angewandte Chemie.

[107]  Xueyan Huang,et al.  Hydrogen Production from Pure Water via Piezoelectric‐assisted Visible‐light Photocatalysis of CdS Nanorod Arrays , 2018, ChemCatChem.

[108]  Yongming Fu,et al.  Ultrafast piezo-photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutions by Ag2O/tetrapod-ZnO nanostructures under ultrasonic/UV exposure , 2016 .

[109]  Ling Zhang,et al.  Oxygen Reduction Reaction for Generating H2 O2 through a Piezo-Catalytic Process over Bismuth Oxychloride. , 2018, ChemSusChem.

[110]  Zhifeng Liu,et al.  Photoelectrochemical properties and growth mechanism of varied ZnO nanostructures , 2017 .

[111]  Zhenqiang Ma,et al.  Interface engineering by piezoelectric potential in ZnO-based photoelectrochemical anode. , 2011, Nano letters.

[112]  Caofeng Pan,et al.  Development and progress in piezotronics , 2015 .

[113]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Enhanced ferroelectric-nanocrystal-based hybrid photocatalysis by ultrasonic-wave-generated piezophototronic effect. , 2015, Nano letters.

[114]  J. Wu,et al.  Synergistically catalytic activities of BiFeO3/TiO2 core-shell nanocomposites for degradation of organic dye molecule through piezophototronic effect , 2019, Nano Energy.

[115]  Wei Han,et al.  Analysis on the piezotronic effect in a strained piezo-Schottky junction with AC impedance spectroscopy , 2017 .

[116]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Direct-Current Nanogenerator Driven by Ultrasonic Waves , 2007, Science.

[117]  Wenguang Tu,et al.  Z‐Scheme Photocatalytic Systems for Promoting Photocatalytic Performance: Recent Progress and Future Challenges , 2016, Advanced science.

[118]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Piezoelectric Nanogenerators Based on Zinc Oxide Nanowire Arrays , 2006, Science.

[119]  Zhicheng Zhao,et al.  Few-layer transition metal dichalcogenides (MoS2, WS2, and WSe2) for water splitting and degradation of organic pollutants: Understanding the piezocatalytic effect , 2019 .

[120]  Zong-Hong Lin,et al.  A highly efficient Au-MoS2 nanocatalyst for tunable piezocatalytic and photocatalytic water disinfection , 2019, Nano Energy.

[121]  Chunhua Lu,et al.  Greatly enhanced photocatalytic activity by organic flexible piezoelectric PVDF induced spatial electric field , 2017 .

[122]  Zhong Lin Wang.  Piezopotential gated nanowire devices: Piezotronics and piezo-phototronics , 2010 .

[123]  Shun Li,et al.  Few-layer MoS2 nanosheet-coated KNbO3 nanowire heterostructures: piezo-photocatalytic effect enhanced hydrogen production and organic pollutant degradation. , 2019, Nanoscale.

[124]  Xudong Wang,et al.  Piezotronic-Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Reactions in Ni(OH)2-Decorated ZnO Photoanodes. , 2015, The journal of physical chemistry letters.

[125]  S. Asthana,et al.  Control over relaxor, piezo-photocatalytic and energy storage properties in Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 via processing methodologies , 2019, Journal of Alloys and Compounds.

[126]  Yihe Zhang,et al.  A highly sensitive hybridized soft piezophotocatalyst driven by gentle mechanical disturbances in water , 2018, Nano Energy.

[127]  Hao Tan,et al.  Highly ordered ZnO/ZnFe2O4 inverse opals with binder-free heterojunction interfaces for high-performance photoelectrochemical water splitting , 2018 .

[128]  Lang Wang,et al.  Strong piezo-electro-chemical effect of piezoelectric BaTiO3 nanofibers for vibration-catalysis , 2018, Journal of Alloys and Compounds.

[129]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Enhancing light emission of ZnO microwire-based diodes by piezo-phototronic effect. , 2011, Nano letters.

[130]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Microfibre–nanowire hybrid structure for energy scavenging , 2009, Nature.

[131]  Xudong Wang,et al.  Coupling of piezoelectric effect with electrochemical processes , 2015 .

[132]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Piezo-potential enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic dye using ZnO nanowires , 2015 .

[133]  J. Zhai,et al.  Piezophototronic effect in enhancing charge carrier separation and transfer in ZnO/BaTiO3 heterostructures for high-efficiency catalytic oxidation , 2019 .

[134]  W. Mi,et al.  Boosting Oxygen Evolution Kinetics by Mn–N–C Motifs with Tunable Spin State for Highly Efficient Solar‐Driven Water Splitting , 2019, Advanced Energy Materials.

[135]  X. Ren,et al.  Large piezoelectric effect in Pb-free ceramics. , 2009, Physical review letters.