journal article·2026-05Open access

Boosting Photo‐Pyroelectric Effect via Tunable Polarization and Interfacial Defect Engineering

Yanli Huang, Haifen Luo, Jie Yin, Shuai Cao, Gaolei Dong, Zhi Tan, Chunlin Zhao, Peiye Wen, Fengwei Sun, Shan Zhang, Xianzeng Zhang, Yunlu Dai, Zhen Yang, Wei Huang

Advanced Science· Volume 13· Issue 25

Abstract

ABSTRACT Pyroelectric catalysis has shown promising prospects for sustainable energy generation and medical treatments. However, its potential is limited by intrinsically low pyroelectric coefficients and insufficient interfacial reactivity, resulting in poor reactive oxygen species (ROS) output. In this study, we design Ba(Ti 0.85 Zr 0.15 )O 3 (BTZ) nanocatalysts, featuring enhanced polarization tunability and oxygen‐vacancy‐rich interfaces, for efficient NIR‐II‐driven photo‐pyroelectric cancer therapy. Molecular dynamics and phase‐field simulations indicate that Zr incorporation maintains strong polarization while facilitating rapid polarization switching via multiscale nanodomain formation. This results in an ultrahigh pyroelectric coefficient (3505 µC m −2 K −1 ), representing a 678% enhancement over pristine BaTiO 3 . Interface engineering introduces oxygen vacancies that enhance NIR‐II photothermal conversion and serve as reactive sites to facilitate the dissociation of water molecules. Density functional theory calculations reveal that Zr doping narrows the bandgap and redistributes conduction band electrons, while interfacial oxygen vacancies facilitate water adsorption through optimized hydroxyl binding. As a result, synergistic pyrocatalysis and peroxidase‐like activity under NIR‐II‐driven mild thermal cycling enable robust multipath ROS generation. Both in vitro and in vivo studies confirm efficient tumor cell ablation via NIR‐II induced pyroelectric therapy. This work presents a co‐engineering strategy integrating polarization and interface design to overcome long‐standing limitations in pyroelectric catalysis, advancing its application in precision oncology.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Advanced Nanomaterials in Catalysis · Nanoplatforms for cancer theranostics · Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Key Laboratory of Opto‐Electronic Science and Technology for Medicine of Ministry of Education Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Photonics Technology Fujian Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics Strait Institute of Flexible Electronics (SIFE Future Technologies) College of Photonic and Electronic Engineering Fujian Normal University Fuzhou China

College of Physics Sichuan University Chengdu China

Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC) Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Singapore Singapore

College of Materials Science and Engineering Fuzhou University Fuzhou China

College of Materials Science and Engineering Sichuan University Chengdu China

Faculty of Health Sciences and MoE Frontiers Science Center for Precision Oncology University of Macau Taipa Macau SAR China

State Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics & Institute of Flexible Electronics Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) Xi'an China

Funding

Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province

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