Strain-Driven Polarized Electric Field-Promoted Photocatalytic Activity in Borate-Based CsCdBO₃ Bulk Materials

Piezoelectrically polarized electric field can provide a strong driving force for the separation of the photoinduced charge carriers that has attracted a wide attention in the field of photocatalysis. In this paper, a new type of piezoelectric borate material CsCdBO 3 exhibits a high efficiency for the degradation of typical organic pollutants under the synergistic effects of strain and light conditions. The oxidation rate constant of the synergistic effect is 0.653 min –1, which is 3.77 times that of just under visible light irradiation. Further, the material shows a higher efficiency when treated both under the clockwise stirring direction and a high stirring speed. A characteristic piezoresponse hysteresis loop was detected using the piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) approach. The strain-driven polarized electric field facilitates to promote the photoinduced electron–hole pair separation, thus enhancing the photocatalytic activity. The present work provides a new direction of the borate with a noncentrosymmetric structure in the environmental remediation.