Bifunctional Bi<sub>0.98</sub>Sm<sub>0.02</sub>FeO<sub>3</sub>/g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> Piezocatalyst for Simultaneous H<sub>2</sub> and H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> Production
Hua Zeng, Chuanbao Liu, B. W. Lan, Mengxi Tan, Chengye Yu, Yanjing Su, Lijie Qiao, Yang Bai
Abstract
Piezocatalysis portrays a promising alternative for producing hydrogen (H 2 ) and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) in a clean and safe way, but the simultaneous enhancement of both properties remains challenging. In this study, a BiFeO 3 -based bifunctional piezocatalytic strategy via Sm doping and g-C 3 N 4 compositing (Bi 0.98 Sm 0.02 FeO 3 /g-C 3 N 4 ) was proposed for efficient simultaneous H 2 and H 2 O 2 production. Benefiting from the synergistic effect between the optimized energy band structure and piezo-generated charges, the performances of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and water oxidation reaction (WOR) are both enhanced remarkably. As a result, the evolution rates of BSFO/g-C 3 N 4 for pure water splitting into H 2 and H 2 O 2 simultaneously reach 988 and 214 μmol g –1 h –1 without any sacrificial agent, which is 4.6 and 7.6 times higher than those of pure BiFeO 3 . Theoretical calculations reveal the critical role of this optimization in reducing the adsorption energy barriers of HER and WOR intermediates by factors of 10.83 and 12.38, respectively. This study broadens new insight into the design of efficient piezocatalysts for water splitting.