Interfacial engineering of Bi2MoO6-BaTiO3 Type-I heterojunction promotes cocatalyst-free piezocatalytic H2 production
Kailai Zhang, Xiaodong Sun, Haitang Wang, Yali Ma, Hongwei Huang, Tianyi Ma
Abstract
Single component semiconductor materials with piezoelectric response can promote the activation of hydrogen ions (H + ) and the generation of hydrogen (H 2 ) under the action of mechanical force, but the high recombination rate of carriers is the major obstacle to strengthen piezocatalytic efficiency. Here, a groundbreaking Bi 2 MoO 6 -BaTiO 3 (BMO-BTO) Type-I heterojunction piezocatalyst is successfully fabricated through a solvothermal strategy, and applied for cocatalysts-free piezocatalytic H 2 production reaction. Under ultrasonic vibration, the H 2 production rate of BMO-0.1BTO heterojunction can reach up to nearly 152.57 µmol/g/h, which is approximately 9.33 and 4.47 times with respect to that of pristine BMO (16.36 µmol/g/h) and BTO (34.16 µmol/g/h) alone, respectively. Furthermore, BMO is also combined with other commonly used piezocatalysts to construct heterojunctions, and analogous marvelous piezocatalytic H 2 production performance was attained. The enhanced piezocatalytic H 2 production performance can be credited to the established built-in electric field (BIEF) in heterojunction extraordinarily suppressed the recombination rates of piezocarriers, rather than an increase in piezoelectricity, which is emphatically verified through a series of physics and chemical characterizations. This study presents an innovative paradigm for fabricating BMO-based heterojunction piezocatalyst to efficiently convert mechanical energy into chemical energy. Bi 2 MoO 6 -BaTiO 3 (BMO-BTO) Type-I heterojunction piezocatalyst is successfully fabricated and applied for cocatalysts-free piezocatalytic H 2 production reaction. The enhanced piezocatalytic H 2 performance can be attributed to the established built-in electric field (BIEF) in heterojunction remarkably reduced the recombination rates of carriers, rather than an increase in piezoelectricity. • Highly efficient piezocatalysts of BMO-BTO Type-I heterojunctions were rationally designed. • BMO-BTO Type-I heterojunctions owned excellent piezocatalytic H 2 production activity and stability. • An innovative piezocatalytic mechanism of BMO-BTO Type-I heterojunctions was reasonably elucidated. • The enhanced H 2 production rate can be attributed to the new BIEF, rather than an increase in material piezoelectricity.