Enhanced Piezocatalytic Performance of BaTiO3 Nanosheets with Highly Exposed {001} Facets

Piezocatalysis has gradually come into the limelight due to its great potential for solving energy shortages and environmental pollution problems. However, limited piezocatalytic efficiency is a severe bottleneck for its practical applications. Here, well-defined BaTiO3 nanosheets with highly exposed {001} polar facets are successfully synthesized to enhance the piezocatalytic activity. The [001] piezoelectric polarization can drive the carriers to migrate to the surface along the out-of-plane direction. The polar surface provides abundant active sites for the piezocatalytic reaction. As a result, a superior piezocatalytic degradation ratio of organic pollutants is obtained with a high first-order rate constant k of 0.0835 min(-1), which is 2.7 times higher than the BaTiO3 nanoparticles. Furthermore, BaTiO3 nanosheets display an outstanding H-2 production capability, with the rate of 305 mu mol g(-1) h(-1), which is almost two times higher than that of BaTiO3 nanoparticles. This work thus provides a novel and comprehensive strategy for designing high-performance piezocatalysts with an out-of-plane polarization, and also provides novel insights for the optimization of the piezocatalytic activity by regulating the polar facet of piezocatalysts.