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 V(5+) ions for I(5+) 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.