Boosting Piezo/Photo-Induced Charge Transfer of CNT/Bi₄O₅I₂ Catalyst for Efficient Ultrasound-Assisted Degradation of Rhodamine B

• Main Authors: Yang Wang, Dongfang Yu, Yue Liu, Xin Liu, Yue Shi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-08-01
• Series: Materials
• Subjects: piezocatalysis; CNT/Bi₄O₅I₂; mechanical vibration; charge transfer
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/14/16/4449

Strain-induced internal electric fields present a significant path to boosting the separation of photoinduced electrons and holes. In addition, piezo-induced positive/negative pairs could be released smoothly, taking advantage of the excellent electroconductibility of some conductors. Herein, the hybrid piezo-photocatalysis is constructed by combining debut piezoelectric nanosheets (Bi₄O₅I₂) and typical conductor multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNT). The photocatalytic degradation efficiency that the hybrid CNT/Bi₄O₅I₂ exhibits was remarkably increased by more than 2.3 times under ultrasonic vibration, due to the piezo-generated internal electric field. In addition, the transient photocurrent spectroscopy and electrochemical impedance measurement reveal that the CNT coating on Bi₄O₅I₂ enhances the piezo-induced positive/negative migration. Therefore, the piezocatalytic activity of CNT/Bi₄O₅I₂ could be improved by three times, compared with pure Bi₄O₅I₂ nanosheets. Our results may offer promising approaches to sketching efficient piezo-photocatalysis for the full utilization of solar energy or mechanical vibration.