Enhanced Piezo-Photocatalytic Performance of Na_0.5Bi_4.5Ti₄O₁₅ by High-Voltage Poling

The internal electric field within a piezoelectric material can effectively inhibit the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, thus serving as a means to enhance photocatalytic efficiency. Herein, we synthesized a Na0.5Bi4.5Ti4O15 (NBT) catalyst by the hydrothermal method and optimized its catalytic performance by simple high-voltage poling. When applying light and mechanical stirring on a 2 kV mm(-1) poled NBT sample, almost 100% of Rhodamine B solution could be degraded in 120 min, and the reaction rate constant reached as high as 28.36 x 10(-3) min(-1), which was 4.2 times higher than that of the unpoled NBT sample. The enhanced piezo-photocatalytic activity is attributed to the poling-enhanced internal electric field, which facilitates the efficient separation and transfer of photogenerated carriers. Our work provides a new option and idea for the development of piezo-photocatalysts for environmental remediation and pollutant treatment.