Boosting piezo-photocatalytic activity of BiVO4/BiFeO3 heterojunctions through built-in polarization field tailoring carrier transfer performances

作者：Jing, Qinfang; Liu, Zhiyong^*; Cheng, Xian; Li, Cichun; Ren, Pengrong; Guo, Kun; Yue, Haojie; Xie, Bing; Li, Ting; Wang, Zhiguo; Shu, Longlong^*

来源：Chemical Engineering Journal, 2023, 464: 142617.

DOI：10.1016/j.cej.2023.142617

• BiVO4/BiFeO3 heterojunctions
• Synergetic catalysis
• Polarization field
• Degradation mechanism

The greatest challenge that limits the application of piezo-photocatalytic materials is the low separation effi-ciency of the generated electron-hole pairs, resulting in poor catalytic activity. Here, the semiconductor n-p heterojunctions BiVO4/BiFeO3 (BVO/BFO) were designed to enhance its piezo-photocatalytic processes. Under the excitation of piezo-vibration and the irradiation of visible light, the BVO/BFO heterojunctions exhibited ultra-high and stable piezo-photocatalytic performance with the degradation rate of Rhodamine B (RhB) solution up to 98 %, and its k value was 6.12 times than that of photocatalysis and 4.36 times than that of piezoelectric catalysis. Thanks to the n-type BVO nanoparticles with good crystallinity were uniformly distributed on the surface of the p-type piezoelectric material BFO, the built-in polarization field was formed and be advantageous to improve the carrier transport performances. A large electron diffusion coefficient (27.44 x 103 cm(2).s(-1)), effective diffusion length (14.49 cm), and long electron lifetime (7.66 x 10(-3) s) were achieved in the BVO/BFO heterojunctions, which played important roles to boost the piezo-photocatalytic activity. The preparation of BVO/BFO heterojunctions and their remarkable photo-piezoelectric properties provides a theoretical and prac-tical reference for the development of efficient piezo-photocatalysis to apply in environmental remediation.

• 单位
  南昌大学; 南昌航空大学