Enhanced Generation of Reactive Oxygen Species via Piezoelectrics based on p–n Heterojunctions with Built-In Electric Field

Tuning the charge transfer processes through a built-in electric field is an effective way to accelerate the dynamics of electro- and photocatalytic reactions. However, the coupling of the built-in electric field of p–n heterojunctions and the microstrain-induced polarization on the impact of piezocatalysis has not been fully explored. Herein, we demonstrate the role of the built-in electric field of p-type BiOI/n-type BiVO4 heterojunctions in enhancing their piezocatalytic behaviors. The highly crystalline p–n heterojunction is synthesized by using a coprecipitation method under ambient aqueous conditions. Under ultrasonic irradiation in water exposed to air, the p–n heterojunctions exhibit significantly higher production rates of reactive species (·OH, ·O2–, and 1O2) as compared to isolated BiVO4 and BiOI. Also, the piezocatalytic rate of H2O2 production with the BiOI/BiVO4 heterojunction reaches 480 μmol g–1 h–1, which is 1.6- and 12-fold higher than those of BiVO4 and BiOI, respectively. Furthermore, the p–n heterojunction maintains a highly stable H2O2 production rate under ultrasonic irradiation for up to 5 h. The results from the experiments and equation-driven simulations of the strain and piezoelectric potential distributions indicate that the piezocatalytic reactivity of the p–n heterojunction resulted from the polarization intensity induced by periodic ultrasound, which is enhanced by the built-in electric field of the p–n heterojunctions. This study provides new insights into the design of piezocatalysts and opens up new prospects for applications in medicine, environmental remediation, and sonochemical sensors.