Enhanced Piezocatalytic Performance of BaTiO3 Nanosheets with Highly Exposed {001} Facets

• Published in: Advanced functional materials Vol. 32; no. 35
• Main Authors: Tang, Qiao, Wu, Jiang, Kim, Donghoon, Franco, Carlos, Terzopoulou, Anastasia, Veciana, Andrea, Puigmartí‐Luis, Josep, Chen, Xiang‐Zhong, Nelson, Bradley J., Pané, Salvador
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.08.2022
• Subjects: Barium titanates; BaTiO 3 nanosheets; dye degradation; H 2 production; Hydrogen production; Linear polarization; Materials science; Nanoparticles; Nanosheets; Optimization; piezocatalyses; Piezoelectricity; Pollutants; {001} facet
• ISSN: 1616-301X; 1616-3028
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202202180

Piezocatalysis has gradually come into the limelight due to its great potential for solving energy shortages and environmental pollution problems. However, limited piezocatalytic efficiency is a severe bottleneck for its practical applications. Here, well‐defined BaTiO3 nanosheets with highly exposed {001} polar facets are successfully synthesized to enhance the piezocatalytic activity. The [001] piezoelectric polarization can drive the carriers to migrate to the surface along the out‐of‐plane direction. The polar surface provides abundant active sites for the piezocatalytic reaction. As a result, a superior piezocatalytic degradation ratio of organic pollutants is obtained with a high first‐order rate constant k of 0.0835  min−1, which is 2.7 times higher than the BaTiO3 nanoparticles. Furthermore, BaTiO3 nanosheets display an outstanding H2 production capability, with the rate of 305 µmol g−1 h–1, which is almost two times higher than that of BaTiO3 nanoparticles. This work thus provides a novel and comprehensive strategy for designing high‐performance piezocatalysts with an out‐of‐plane polarization, and also provides novel insights for the optimization of the piezocatalytic activity by regulating the polar facet of piezocatalysts. Regular BaTiO3 nanosheets with highly exposed {001} facets are successfully synthesized. Compared with nanoparticles, these nanosheets exhibit enhanced piezocatalytic performance for pollutant degradation and H2 production, thanks to their out‐of‐plane polarization and abundant active sites on the large exposed surface. This work provides an efficient route for improving piezocatalytic activity by tuning the exposed crystalline facets.