A discovery of field-controlling selective adsorption for micro ZnO rods with unexpected piezoelectric catalytic performance

Abstract Exploring robust catalysts is the key to environmental protection. By the controllable exposure of polarization surfaces, the piezoelectric potential of ZnO was optimized, making micro ZnO rods, which have poor photocatalytic performance inherently, unexpectedly exhibit excellent piezoelectric catalytic performance. More importantly, an interesting phenomenon of field-controlling selective adsorption was discovered for the first time. This field-controlling selective adsorption made the ZnO rod work as a self-contained field controller, which can manipulate the migration of dye molecules according to the molecular polarity, enhancing the catalytic performance. Besides, this selective adsorption can help to relieve the hole-sensitive symptoms of ZnO, making ZnO more efficient and robust. Consequently, this study offers a new working prototype of selective adsorption for efficient catalysis.