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Atomic-level unveiling secondary recrystallization enabled micro- and macroscopic polarization enhancement for piezo-photocatalytic oxygen activation

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Abstract

Piezoelectric semiconductors bear the bifunctional photocatalysis and piezocatalysis, while the absent or weak internal charge driving force severely restricts its catalytic activity. Develo** polarization strategy is desirable, and particularly understanding its mechanism from a microscopic perspective remains scanty. Herein, we report a secondary recrystallization approach to achieving the simultaneous micro- and macroscopic polarization enhancement on Bi2WO6 nanosheets for boosting piezophotocatalytic oxygen activation, and unravel the mechanism at an atom-level. The secondary recrystallization process not only results in a strengthened distortion of [WO6] octahedra with distortion index enhancement by ~ 20% for a single octahedron, but also enables lateral crystal growth of nanosheets along the ab plane (av. 50 to 180 nm), which separately allows the rise in dipole moment of unit cell (e.g., 1.63 D increase along a axis) and the stacking of the distorted [WO6] octahedron to accumulate the unit cell dipole, collectively contributing to the considerably strengthened spontaneous polarization and piezoelectricity. Besides, exposure of large-area {001} front facet enables more efficient capture and conversion of stress into piezo-potential. Therefore, the well-recrystallized Bi2WO6 nanosheets exhibit considerably promoted piezo-photocatalytic reactive oxygen species generation, given the decreased specific surface area. This work presents a feasible methodology to regulate inside-out polarization for guiding carriers transfer behavior, and may advance the solid understanding on the intrinsic mechanism.

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Acknowledgements

This work was jointly supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2022YFB3803600), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52272244 and 51972288), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2652022202), and 2021 Graduate Innovation Fund Project of China University of Geosciences, Bei**g (No. ZY2021YC006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Geological Carbon Storage and Low Carbon Utilization of Resources, Bei**g Key Laboratory of Materials Utilization of Nonmetallic Minerals and Solid Wastes, National Laboratory of Mineral Materials, School of Material Sciences and Technology, China University of Geosciences (Bei**g), Bei**g, 100083, China

    Kai Lin, Zijian Zhu, Weiyi Ge & Hongwei Huang

  2. School of Chemistry, Beihang University, Bei**g, 100191, China

    Tianxing Jiang

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  1. Kai Lin
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Correspondence to Hongwei Huang.

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Atomic-level unveiling secondary recrystallization enabled micro- and macroscopic polarization enhancement for piezo-photocatalytic oxygen activation

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Lin, K., Zhu, Z., Ge, W. et al. Atomic-level unveiling secondary recrystallization enabled micro- and macroscopic polarization enhancement for piezo-photocatalytic oxygen activation. Nano Res. 17, 5040–5049 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-024-6518-4

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