{110} Surface‐Exposed Bi <sub>3.15</sub> Nd <sub>0.85</sub> Ti <sub>3</sub> O <sub>12</sub> Ferroelectric Nanosheet Arrays on Porous Ceramics as Efficient and Recyclable Piezo‐Photocatalysts
Yan Zhao, Yan Zhang, Xuefan Zhou, Kaiyu Feng, Qianqian Xu, Hanyu Gong, Di Zhai, Mingyang Yan, Dou Zhang, Chris Bowen
Abstract
Abstract Bismuth‐layered ferroelectric nanomaterials exhibit great potential for piezo‐photocatalysis. However, a major challenge lies in the difficulty of recovering the catalytic powders, raising concerns regarding secondary pollution of water. In this work, a novel hierarchical porous ferroelectric ceramic containing {110} surface‐exposed Bi 3.15 Nd 0.85 Ti 3 O 12 (BIT‐Nd) nanosheet arrays is grown on a porous ceramic matrix for efficient and recyclable piezo‐photocatalysis. By controlling the BIT‐Nd loading level of the nanosheets, the piezo‐photocatalytic degradation efficiency of a Rhodamine B(RhB) ( C 0 = 10 mg L −1 ) solution reached an optimum value of 97.1% in 100 min with a first‐order kinetic rate constant, k , of up to 0.0321 min −1 in Bi 3.15 Nd 0.85 Ti 3 O 12 ‐20 (BITNd‐20) with a mass ratio of hydrothermal products to ceramics of 20%. In the presence of BITNd‐20, a surprising H 2 yield rate of 130 µmol·h −1 is achieved without using any cocatalyst or scavenger. Specially, the beneficial role of snowflake structures on piezoelectric potential amplification and introducing nanosheets with exposed {110} surfaces on hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity, piezoelectric potential output, and catalytic performance of porous ceramics has been revealed. This unique design strategy provides a new approach to enhance the piezo‐photocatalytic activity by addressing environmental issues and enhancing catalytic performance to yield cleaner energy.