Macroscopic Polarization Enhancement Promoting Photo- and Piezoelectric-Induced Charge Separation and Molecular Oxygen Activation

Efficient photo- and piezoelectric-induced molecular oxygen activation are both achieved by macroscopic polarization enhancement on a noncentrosymmetric piezoelectric semiconductor BiOIO₃ . The replacement of V⁵⁺ ions for I⁵⁺ in IO₃ polyhedra gives rise to strengthened macroscopic polarization of BiOIO₃ , which facilitates the charge separation in the photocatalytic and piezoelectric catalytic process, and renders largely promoted photo- and piezoelectric induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) evolution, such as superoxide radicals (^. O₂^- ) and hydroxyl radicals (^. OH). This work advances piezoelectricity as a new route to efficient ROS generation, and also discloses macroscopic polarization engineering on improvement of multi-responsive catalysis.